


Ad Astra Per Aspera

by lukeskywalkers



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin Skywalker Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Angst, Family Fluff, Gen, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Hurt/Comfort, Padmé Amidala Lives, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Protective Anakin Skywalker, Protective Padmé Amidala, Skywalker Family Drama, Skywalker Family Feels, Tatooine Slave Culture, Warning: mentions of emotional/psychological and physical abuse, but nothing graphic in any form, but that doesn't mean happily ever after, found and by blood, it's about the FAMILY, post-ROTS
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:34:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24187465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lukeskywalkers/pseuds/lukeskywalkers
Summary: Anakin doesn’t become Darth Vader, but not everything ends up happily ever after for the Skywalker family. Luke and Leia are stolen from Padme soon after birth, and seven years later, all leads to their whereabouts have come up empty. However, a longtime friend of Anakin’s comes to him with promising information about the location of his children… information, though, that will change everything.Meanwhile, Lukka and Leila don’t know much about themselves. They are twins, and they have each other. They are slaves in Jabba’s Palace on Tatooine and have always been so. But they dream of Ekkreth, the Sky-Walker, and of someone who will bring the rain...Against all the odds, can the Skywalkers become a family again?
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker & Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa & Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala & Leia Organa, Padmé Amidala & Luke Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Trace Martez/Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 90
Kudos: 289





	1. Day of Remembrance, Vigil of the Lost

_Anakin gazed across the lake, at the peaks of the dark green mountains on the opposite shore. Feeling a gust of wind brush past him, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, focusing on the scent of the roses in the stone pots on the balustrade. He was so entranced by the smell of the flowers that he missed the first tug on his pant legs until the child who was responsible for the tug pulled again, tighter and harder._

_Without opening his eyes, Anakin smiled, suddenly recognizing the blazing Force signature of light that was his son, Luke. Slowly, as to get used to the glow of the setting sun on the lake, he opened his eyes, turned around, and leaned down to the ground to lock gazes with the young boy behind him. A grin lit up his face, and a warm feeling settled in Anakin’s chest as Luke started to giggle, anticipating what his father was about to do next._

“What are you doing out here, Lukey?” _Anakin teased, reaching out his hands to tickle his son. A few weak protests from Luke later, Anakin scooped him up into his arms and held him as tightly as he could, before letting Luke down to sit on the railing of the balcony, Anakin making sure to position Luke in such a way that he would be standing behind him, to prevent any fall. Father and son then looked out at the lake together, Luke in particular fascinated by the way the light of the setting Naboo sun reflected off the calm blue waters._

 _Anakin closed his eyes again, concentrating on the serenity, the_ perfection, _of this moment..._

* * *

“Anakin?”

And was so abruptly awakened from his daydream.

The man in question groaned, using his arms to push his face off the balustrade, where he had apparently laid down his head for a nap. Sighing, he rubbed the left side of his face, which was surely red after having been squashed into rock for the past half hour. He turned around to not find his seven-year-old son behind him, but his wife, Padme. Anakin resisted the urge to close his eyes again, to reposition himself back in reality. 

The reality that he had no son to tug on his pants, or to tickle. To hug, or watch the sunset with.

Although he tried to school his features into a neutral expression, Padme clearly saw the millisecond of grief that appeared on his face. She moved closer to him, her eyebrows furrowed in worry. “Anakin, are you okay?”

She was beautiful, Anakin thought, in her deep blue dress that mirrored the color of the water outside Varykino. Her brown hair cascaded down her shoulders in ringlets, a favorite casual hairstyle of hers. It contrasted so much with the sad, devastated look on her face as her husband didn’t respond to her question. 

“You don’t have to join me, you know,” Padme whispered, walking over to Anakin and caressing the side of his face that had a fading red bruise on it. “I understand if you don’t want to.”

Anakin sighed, willing himself to speak and assuage his wife’s worries. “Padme, I’m fine. Just had a… daydream is all.” Smiling softly, he took the hand that she had on his face down and squeezed it before letting go.

The side of Padme’s features lifted in a half-smile, and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “About them?”

He breathed deeply, before nodding. Of course, Padme would be able to decipher the hidden meaning in his words. “About… Luke, specifically. But yes,” he replied.

His wife bit her lip, shaking her head a little.“Anakin, I’m-” Padme started, about to put a hand on his shoulder, but Anakin held up his hand to stop her. 

“Padme, there’s no need to apologize,” he said. He started walking down from the balcony, towards the shore of the lake. He stopped for a second, before turning around to face her. “You know I would never miss this.”

“Sometimes I wish I felt like I could,” Padme chuckled lowly, and just like she had been able to detect his sadness earlier, Anakin could sense the grief in her tone. Before he could comment, however, Padme had stridden across the balcony and headed past him. “We best be getting on the lake, now,” was her only statement afterward.

Nodding silently, Anakin followed behind her.

A wooden rowboat awaited them on the rocky shore of the lake, just big enough for the two of them. Two lanterns made out of polished wood also stood on the side of the water, lit with eternaflame, that were only plucked from their resting place once an orbital period. As Anakin positioned himself in the boat and grabbed the oars, Padme grabbed the lanterns. Once they were both in the rowboat, and Padme nodded her assent, Anakin rowed them downstream. 

As they headed to the end of the lake, Anakin noticed other small rowboats join their number. In each boat, the flames of lanterns similar to Padme’s stood out against the rapidly darkening sky, the pinpricks of light illuminating the darkness. The roar of the waterfall in which the lake ended began to roar in Anakin’s ears, and soon, Padme motioned for him to stop the rowboat and let it drift. 

They sat there for a while, listening to the soft whispers and chatters of Nubians in the boats near them, the whir of the water falling below, and the chirps of bugs that awakened during the night. Anakin kept watch as the Naboo moons appeared in the sky, hovering over the planet in seeming wait of the spectacle below. Entranced by the scene, Anakin was shaken out of his reverie by Padme’s hand on his leg, the fire of one of the lanterns dancing across her face. The other was held out for him to take. Anakin took the lantern from her and mirrored the way Padme faced the right side of the boat, towards the lake. Silently, they lowered the lanterns just above the calm surface of the water.

Every year since the twins’ birth, Anakin had accompanied Padme to this ceremony, a Naboo ritual held for the Day of Remembrance. Most people were here to honor the memory of loved ones who had died, as was the traditional use of the ceremony. However, some came to remember people who hadn’t died, but were far from them, or hadn’t been seen by the person in a while. 

For some, like Anakin and Padme, they came to remember what had been lost- what had been taken- from them.

The voice of a holy man suddenly erupted on the scene, seemingly coming from the lake itself, a deep, rich baritone. “We come to remember and honor,” he shouted so all could hear.

“We come to remember and honor,” each person on the water echoed him.

“We come to pay tribute to those who have died,” the Nubian holy man continued.

“We come to pay tribute to those who have died,” the people answered back.

“We come to honor those who we miss and have not seen for some time,” the man’s voice carried again.

“We come to honor those who we miss and have not seen for some time.”

“We remember and honor.”

“We remember and honor.”

“May Shiraya’s light guide them all. _Aya_ ,” the holy man finished, and Anakin caught his first sight of a lantern pushed into the water, the flame flowing and ebbing along with the soft currents of the lake.

“ _Aya,_ ” the Nubians on the lake cried, as more and more lanterns began to appear on the surface of the water. Anakin and Padme glanced at each other, before lowering both lanterns into the lake.

They would never be seen again.

Anakin leaned against the sides of the rowboat, watching as he and Padme’s lanterns lit up the water surrounding them, floating away from their boat ever so slowly into the distance. He was so distracted by the spectacle that he missed the fact that Padme wasn’t watching the lanterns with him until a loud, broken sob caused him to whirl around and immediately reach out to his wife.

“Angel?” Anakin questioned, but quieted once he realized that Padme was softly praying under her breath.

He sat there, frozen, not wanting to intrude on anything sacred, as Padme cried and whispered her prayers to Shiraya. He could make out some, but not others- most of them about protection, guidance, family, home. However, when Padme let out another loud sob, and her crying again began in earnest, Anakin wasted no time in hastening towards her, doing his best to wrap her up in his arms.

Padme then grasped onto Anakin’s robes like a lifeline. “Shiraya, bring them home,” she moaned, in a way that broke Anakin’s heart in two. “Bring them home to us. Bring them _home_.”

Anakin spent the next few minutes holding his angel, trying to be there for her where their babies were not. Desperately, yet fruitlessly, struggling to fill the hole where their children should be.

* * *

Most of the fellow participants of the Day of Remembrance ritual had gone home by the time Anakin and Padme started to row back to Varykino. They still hadn’t spoken since the ceremony had started, though Anakin was relieved to hear Padme’s rapid gulps of air between sobs start to cease. They were just about back to the Lake Country estate when Padme’s quiet voice cut through the silence.

“Ani, I don’t think they’re coming back.”

“Padme, don’t talk like that,” Anakin replied after a pause, trying to control the sadness and even anger that threatened to bubble up and spill out of his mouth. 

They were almost at the estate now, the lights on the balcony lighting Padme’s face enough where he could just make out her turning to look out at the Varykino shore. She sighed, something deep and haggard. “I don’t want to talk like that,” she whispered, yet firm. “But it’s been seven years, Anakin. Seven years of hardly a word to their whereabouts.” She looked at him then. “Don’t say that it wouldn’t take a miracle for Luke and Leia to resurface and be back in our arms.” She looked away from him, ashamed as she uttered her next statement. “You know they’re probably dead.”

“We have to keep hoping. Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and I are still looking for leads.” Anakin’s words sounded hollow, even to him. 

The rowboat was dredged on the shore now, and Anakin placed the oars to the side of the boat, standing up and holding out his hand to help Padme up from her sitting position. She held his hand and used it to steady herself upright. They both stepped out of the rowboat, and Anakin marveled at how dark the shoreline was without the shining lanterns that once stood watch on the rocks.

Padme turned to face him then. “I know you are,” she said, so kind in her delivery. But Anakin could sense the disbelief, the hopelessness, that comprised the tension between them. They stood there, looking at each other, before Padme deflated, clearly tired and not in the mood to continue the conversation further.

“You should get ready for bed,” Anakin finally spoke up, placing his right hand behind Padme’s back as he guided her back up to the balcony of the lakehouse. Padme moved to walk inside, before noticing that Anakin wasn’t following her. She raised an eyebrow in question. “I’m going to stay outside for a little while longer, if you don’t mind.”

Padme nodded, and moved over to him to give him a light peck of a kiss on his cheek. “Don’t stay out too long,” she said, before moving along the side of the estate to the entryway on the other side, patting his arm before she went.

Anakin chuckled to himself at his wife’s warning, before fixating on a bee that buzzed around one of the potted roses on the balcony, a lamp attached to the estate shining a spotlight on it in all its detail. Anakin huffed, realizing how tired he actually was, as he walked to and leaned against the balustrade, staring at the light fixture illuminating the area.

His mind wandered as he thought about Padme’s outburst near the waterfall and her statement as they came back to Varykino. More than anything, he wished that he could comfort her better, refute her claims, and prove that their children would one day come back to them. That they weren’t… dead. But the more and more he thought about it, the more he realized that he couldn’t disagree with anything Padme had said. It had been over seven years, now, that Luke and Leia had been stolen from their mother at birth. Despite the tireless work he, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan had gone through to find any clues about their kidnapping and disappearance, all leads had eventually come up empty. Slowly, almost sinisterly, Anakin realized, the optimism he had had, that his kids would come home again, had faded away to nothing. He still clung to one last thread, his only hope, but he was beginning to understand that it might be best to finally let go. 

_A way to commemorate and honor the dead._

A sudden idea grabbed a hold of him as his mind wandered to the thought of the lanterns on the lake. It wouldn’t let him go. It was like he had been falling asleep, and had been abruptly jostled awake.

Anakin knew what he had to do.

He raced inside, and up the stairs, to the bedroom he and Padme shared. He barely registered a startled “Anakin!” from his wife as he slid his hands underneath the bed and pulled out a small box. Breathing heavily, Anakin sighed in relief as he opened up the box and found exactly what he needed- a jerba cord and a japor snippet, items he had carried with him ever since he left Tatooine to train with the Jedi at nine years old.

“Anakin, what is going on?” Anakin finally registered the sound of Padme’s voice. 

He stood up from the bed, japor snippet and cord held tightly in the black glove of his prosthetic arm.

“Padme, I need you to get a bowl of water,” was all he replied.

* * *

 _It’s a ceremony too,_ Anakin explained. _Like the Day of Remembrance on Naboo. But the vigil for the lost is performed when any fellow slave dies or is sold away on Tatooine._

Padme and Anakin stood around the bowl of water. Anakin brought out the length of the jerba cord.

_It’s to bind us all together. In our shared grief._

They looped the cord around each of their left wrists.

_We have to give something to the waters. A gift to the person who has departed, the people who have departed._

Though he had only the one japor snippet, Anakin laid it out on the stone of the balcony over the lake, where he had once, seemingly so long ago, married his angel. Tears, unwittingly, pooled in his eyes as he watched Padme place the japor snippet that he had so long ago carved for her alongside his own sign of protection, which his mother had given to him after he was freed, right before he had left with Master Qui-Gon to Coruscant.

_We keep the gifts. As a mark of connection, a personal jerba cord, tied between us and the people we have lost._

Gathering up the japor snippet she had offered, as he placed his own in his pant pocket for the time being, Padme kissed Anakin on the cheek before stepping back into the lakehouse.

And Anakin gazed across the lake, at the peaks of the dark green mountains on the opposite shore, their hazy outlines difficult to make out now in the late hours of the night. Feeling a gust of wind brush past him, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, focusing on the scent of the roses in the stone pots on the balustrade, as he fingered the jerba cord on his wrist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hello there.
> 
> I haven't written fanfiction in literally 3+ years, so this feels really weird, but I hope y'all enjoy this. I've gotten really into Star Wars in the past year, and I've had so many fic ideas that wouldn't leave me alone. I finally had the motivation and the time to write for pleasure again, so, here we are.
> 
> This is in the story's bio, but major props to Fialleril's meta on Tatooine slave culture. Various elements of that will be included in this fic- that's where the Vigil of the Lost comes from, while Naboo's Day of Remembrance is my own creation. I did my best to be faithful to the vigil as described by Fialleril, but my apologies if I got any of that wrong, or get any element wrong of this wonderful meta throughout this fic. I am trying to do my best to be faithful to it (literally, I have 15+ tabs permanently uploaded on my phone as I research elements of it) but I know I might make mistakes.
> 
> The same goes for any bit of Star Wars worldbuilding in this fic, honestly. I've also dutifully had Wookieepedia up to make sure I don't make a mockery of this universe, but again, I'm just doing my best. Let me know if there are any glaring errors on the way.
> 
> I'm hoping to update this on a fairly regular schedule. My goal is weekly updates, but there might be 2+ weeks between updates as well. I have an internship this summer and I don't know how long my hours will be, but I will do my best to keep this fic updated!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this first chapter- I am really, really excited about this and I'm so happy to be finally publishing my work again after a long hiatus. Comments, kudos, and follows are always appreciated and keep me motivated.
> 
> Stay safe and healthy, everyone!


	2. Ghosts on Coruscant

He woke up and slowly regained consciousness from sleep as he felt a soft kiss on his forehead.

Anakin hadn’t even opened his eyes yet, but after he felt his wife pull away from him, he sat up and reached out to where he knew Padme was, to draw her back into another kiss- this time, on the lips.

“Anakin,” Padme laughed, as still, not daring to open his eyes yet, Anakin tried to deepen the kiss. “I’ve got to get going, I have an early meeting to make with Mon this morning, and you know that.”

Anakin finally decided to get a good look at her and open his eyes, smiling as the shades of their bedroom window filtered the early morning light to make it seem as if Padme was glowing with the rising Coruscant sun. One of her dark yellow senatorial gowns completed the illusion, her hair plaited down her back in one of her simpler braids.

She was his angel, all right.

“Just let me enjoy the view, my lady. I like waking up to such a sight,” Anakin teased her.

Padme sighed and rolled her eyes, thwacking him with her hand a little. “You don’t have time to enjoy the view any more than I do, Ani. Don’t you have a class with the younglings to run in a standard hour?”

He faked a groan, pulling what had been Padme’s pillow from next to him on the bed over his head and falling down into the covers again. “Don’t remind me.”

Padme chuckled and sat down on the bed then, snatching the pillow away from him, and making sure Anakin opened his eyes again. “I have some fruit in the fridge, and a piece of toast left over for breakfast. Make yourself some caf and wake up, sleepyhead.”

Anakin smirked- she may be poking fun at him, but her tone was still authoritative enough that he instinctively knew he must obey Padme’s command. “Yes, angel, I’m getting up.”

He saw Padme smile and her mouth about to form a retort before her commlink on her wrist started to beep. A huff later, she had extricated herself from the bed and walked to the door after gathering some flimsiplasts from the bedside table. She paused at the doorway, an apologetic smile on her face as she turned back to look at Anakin. “Sorry, that’ll be Mon, I got to get going. I’ll be back early tonight though, okay?”

“Okay,” Anakin replied, and seeing her hesitate at the door, made a shooing motion with his hand and grinned. “Padme, get going, I’ll be fine.”

With a nod and one last appreciative smile, his wife disappeared from view, and Anakin heard the door shut as Padme walked out on the balcony and got in her speeder to go to the Senate.

Anakin hated leaving the comfort of the soft bedsheets, but Padme was right- he had a class to teach. After a quick stint in the sonic, he put on a refreshrobe and went to get breakfast from the kitchen. He had just poured himself a cup of caf and bitten into a slice of toast when his own comm started to go off. He leaned backwards towards the island counter behind him to accept the transmission, stuffing some more toast in his mouth as he did so.

And whirled around immediately after a holo of Obi-Wan appeared.

“Master- “Anakin started, trying to speak with his cheeks full of toast.

“Anakin, stop,” Obi-Wan sighed, using his disapproving Coruscanti accent in such a way that Anakin suddenly felt like he was a preteen Padawan again. “Please don’t tell me that you stuffed toast into your mouth as you picked up a holocall.”

Anakin swallowed the last bit of toast in his mouth. “It was good,” he defended himself. Obi-Wan just continued to stare at him, and he threw up his arms in exasperation. “Alright, I promise to have better table manners next time, Obi-Wan.”

Obi-Wan nodded as he seemingly stroked his beard in thought, but Anakin could tell that he was merely hiding an amused grin. Anakin smiled in return. “So, what do you have for me?” he asked. “I’m sure you didn’t just call me to make fun of my eating habits.”

“Of course,” Obi-Wan replied, taking down his hand from his chin. “I also wanted to remind you that you have a class to teach soon, and should probably change into something a little more appropriate than the outfit you’ve got on currently.”

Anakin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Yes, Master, I’ll be there shortly.”

“And remember, you also have a Council meeting this afternoon.”

“Yes, yes,” Anakin sighed, as he grabbed the comm and headed to the bedroom again to change. “I’m not a youngling anymore, you know that, right, Obi-Wan?”

“Just wanted to remind you, my friend,” Obi-Wan said, visibly smiling now and making no effort to hide it. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

“See you,” Anakin replied, and then the holo of Obi-Wan fizzled out and disappeared.

Soon thereafter, after tugging on his Jedi robes, combing his hair, and fumbling around for his lightsaber which he always kept near the bed, Anakin was out of 500 Republica and flying to the Jedi Temple in his speeder.

* * *

“Good morning, younglings,” Anakin announced as he strode into the training room at the Temple.

“Master Skywalker!” a chorus of a dozen or so children’s voices greeted him. Immediately, he was swarmed with a bunch of initiates who were dead-set on badgering him with questions, or hugging him around the middle.

Anakin smiled. In his youth, he would have never been allowed to display such attachment in a physical way, or even just permitted to seem so enthusiastic about his lessons. He was glad, now, that the Temple had relaxed its guidelines about Jedi expressing affection and emotions in general, even if the age-old Code was still technically in place.

The query of a short orange-colored Twi’lek girl caught his attention amongst the crowd of kids. “What are we learning today, Master Skywalker?”

He bent down to look her in the eyes, placing a hand on her shoulders. “I’m glad you asked, Keri.” He stood up then, and straightening his back, Anakin glanced around the room as the younglings started to sit in different spots around the room, trainee lightsaber hilts attached to the belts that were fastened around their tunics. “You’ve already learned the basic principles behind activating and using your lightsaber, as well as standing at position. So today, we’re going to focus on learning the first form of lightsaber combat- Shii-Cho.”

Anakin chuckled lightly as the faces of the children in the room instantly brightened at the news and they started to chatter excitedly amongst themselves. Beginning to learn lightsaber forms was, to many younglings, the start of being treated like a “big kid” in the Temple.

“So, let’s stand at attention, and learn a simple defensive parrying move that is essential to Form I…” Anakin started to explain, the younglings enraptured as soon as he removed his lightsaber from his belt and ignited the blue blade.

* * *

“Good, good,” Anakin praised, as he walked around the training room. It was towards the end of the standard hour and a half of lightsaber training he was signed up to teach, but he always made sure the last half hour or so of his classes was spent on getting the initiates to actually practice their lightsaber technique. The kids in this particular cohort were catching on quickly, and although he paused every once and a while to correct a student’s posture or point out a part of their body that they would be leaving defenseless during a duel, he was impressed by how well they were catching on to the form.

He was glad though, that the weak light emanating from the training sabers was harmless, and not powered by the destructive nature of a real Kyber crystal. Anakin had to stifle a laugh as he saw one of the children get spooked by another initiate who had snuck up behind him. The poor Mon Cala boy at the butt of the joke fumbled with his lightsaber, glaring at his Rodian friend who was grinning from ear to ear at the prank he had played on his playmate.

He honestly felt completely at ease, checking in with each of the younglings. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka sometimes teased him for the fact that the usually, brash, impatient “Chosen One” so enjoyed teaching little snotty, potentially obstinate, sticky-handed kids, but Anakin had to admit he usually only felt peace in conducting these lessons. 19-year-old Anakin definitely, or even himself at the start of the Clone Wars, would have probably resented such a duty. But maybe having Ahsoka as a Padawan for years had finally worn him down, taught him patience, and made him like the initiates.

However, that serenity disappeared when he caught sight of the little human girl who was right next to Keri. He had been demonstrating where the Twi’lek should be placing her feet, when it felt like the wind got knocked right out of him.

Anakin had met the Alderaanian girl before. Many times, in fact- he had been teaching this cohort of younglings for a while now. But there was something, today, in how she looked- her chestnut brown hair in a simple braid down her back, the dark yellow of her tunic? - that reminded him of how Padme had looked before she left the apartment just that morning. And no sooner had he thought that, his mind drifted, to…

Leia.

Reina, the youngling from Alderaan, was seven standard, Anakin knew. The same age that Leia would have been. Her form was almost perfect- Anakin would have critiqued how her hand was wrapped around the training saber’s hilt, certainly, but not much else.

Would she have looked just like this, with her yellow tunic? The braid behind her back? Would Leia’s form have been as perfect as the girl’s in front of him? The few precious minutes that he had held his baby in his arms, he had sensed her powerful Force presence. It wasn’t like Luke’s blazing and blinding suns, but more like a Krayt. Forceful, powerful, yes- but lying in wait for the right time to pounce, strike, and utter its ear-piercing shriek.

As Reina moved through the positions she had learned, Anakin saw that same ferocity. And therefore, he saw it in Leia.

There was an ache, in his chest, of the loss of what he could have had. In another life, maybe he would have not only made himself toast in the morning, but would also have made breakfast for Luke and Leia. Maybe, Padme would have not only kissed his forehead, but the twins’ too before leaving the apartment for work. Maybe, the kids would have laughed with delight as their “Uncle Obi” appeared on a holocall. Maybe he would have let them tag along in the backseat of his speeder as they made their way to the Jedi Temple for their first class of the day. Maybe… maybe… maybe…

Anakin was finding it hard to breathe.

“Master Skywalker, are you okay?”

He hadn’t even noticed that Reina had stopped running through her katas. But now, Anakin saw that she had paused, and was staring at him, furrowing her eyebrows in concern. Anakin also briefly sensed Keri pause in her motions too, clearly sensing the unease, and even grief, he must be projecting as well. Clamping down as tightly as he could on his mental shields, he plastered a smile on his face and took a deep breath, desperately trying to calm himself and return to the peace he had felt just moments earlier. He addressed the little girl. “Yes, I’m sorry Reina, I just got distracted for a while.”

Reina frowned, opening her mouth to retort, as if she didn’t quite believe him. However, just then, Anakin was saved by Master Koon opening the doors to the training room. As he had been swarmed at the beginning of his lesson, the dozen younglings flocked to the Kel Dor Master, deactivating their training lightsabers, attaching the hilts to their belts, and eagerly shuffling to the door to follow him to their next course. Once the Jedi Master made sure the initiates were in a suitable line, Plo Koon nodded once in affirmation at Anakin, silently asking permission to move them along. He returned the nod, and after a few returned waves to the leaving children, Anakin stood in an empty training room.

Left alone with only his thoughts for company, Reina’s face came to mind again, and he realized- her eyes were green, not brown, like Leia’s had been.

It was that thought and that thought alone that gave him the energy to propel himself through the door and out of the room.

A room that suddenly felt full of ghosts.

* * *

Afterwards, Anakin did what he always did when he needed to turn off his brain for a little while. He went to the Temple Archives.

As he entered, he was immediately greeted by Master Nu, the Chief Librarian of the Jedi Archives. It was exactly who he had wanted to see. “Hello, Master Skywalker. Is there any assistance you require today?” The old woman smiled kindly, the wrinkles around her eyes lifting and brightening, although her fingers were intertwined in front of her as she stood rim-rod straight as always, stately and serene.

Anakin smiled back- he had always had a fairly close relationship with the Master Archivist. She had been one of the only people, after all, that had been willing to listen and answer all of Anakin’s questions as a new Padawan at the Temple. She never bothered him as he had somehow searched the Holonet and shelves for hours in the library, enjoying the respite from the other inhabitants of the Temple; the Masters who threw him furtive, cautious glances when they thought he wasn’t looking, the Knights who whispered among themselves while staring directly at him, the other Padawans and initiates who snickered at him or called him names.

The Archives had always been a welcoming and soothing place for him, and that’s exactly what he needed right now.

“Yes, Master,” Anakin finally found himself replying. “I’m here to help with any archiving work you might need done.”

Jocasta raised an eyebrow at him, intrigued. “Oh?” she said. “You haven’t done that for months, now.”

He cleared his throat. “Yes, I know, but uh- even if I’m not- looking… for anything anymore, I would still be glad to assist you.”

The woman studied him for a minute. It was likely, Anakin knew, that she understood that he wasn’t really in the mood to assist anyone with anything, but rather, just needed the distraction. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the Jedi Master mercifully nodded, and beckoned Anakin to follow her towards one of the central desks in the library.

Anakin soon found himself standing in front of a large stack of flimsi. “Flight manifests,” the Chief Librarian explained. “There’s still quite a few you never sorted through. Even if you won’t go through the rest, you can help organize the remaining records by date.” A small grin lifted the corners of her mouth. “And if you need it, you’ll find some cookies- in the shelves, of course.”

Anakin blushed; it felt like he was nine-years-old again. “Thank you, Master Nu. I appreciate your kindness.”

The Master Archivist patted his shoulder before she took her leave, giving him a wide, cheerful smile now. “Anytime, Anakin. Anytime,” she said, as she walked away.

He soon got to work. Scanning each manifest for its recorded date, Anakin’s mind was soon preoccupied with putting everything in order.

He tried not to think about the hundreds, maybe even thousands of Coruscant flight manifests he had gone through in the past seven years, in this exact spot, to hopefully find any link to the kidnapping and disappearance of his children.

He tried really, really hard not to think about it.

Anakin had no idea how much time had passed when his stomach started to rumble. He realized that he hadn’t had anything to eat but toast and a few berries hours beforehand. Almost by muscle memory, Anakin opened the third drawer on his right and was greeted with a small, red tin. Eagerly, he dipped his fingers in and came away with a dark brown chocolate-filled cookie. Licking his lips, Anakin was about to bite into the dessert when-

“Ahem.”

Startled, Anakin almost jumped straight out of his chair, and was then struck with a familiar sense of déjà vu as Obi-Wan stood above him, leaning over the desk. Clearing his throat again, he then tilted his head, a smirk appearing on his face. “Only you, my dear former Padawan, could be literally caught with your hands in the cookie jar at 30-years-old.”

Anakin scowled. “And why do you always seem to want to barge in at the worst possible moment?”

“Because, clearly, I still need to remind my old Padawan that he has class,” Obi-Wan retorted.

Anakin shot up from the desk, hastily checking the chronometer on the tabletop, stuffing the red tin of cookies back into the shelf it came from. “Kriff, the Council meeting, I’m so sorry, Obi-Wan.” He’d thrown his cloak over the chair, but quickly extricated it from the back of the piece of furniture and put it on.

The Jedi Master in question chuckled. “It’s alright, Anakin. I’m sure if we make haste, we will be at the meeting on time.” He winked. “I’m just glad I found you, because you obviously need me.”

Anakin smirked in return. If there was anything that usually put him at ease, it was Obi-Wan’s sarcastic snark. He couldn’t even come up with a good comeback, in the moment. He was just grateful for Obi-Wan… being there. “You’re not wrong, Master,” he ultimately answered.

Obi-Wan chuckled, before pausing in his walk to look back at Anakin, suddenly, as they were almost outside of the Archives. “Are you alright, Anakin?”

He struggled not to roll his eyes- was this everyone’s question for him today? However, Anakin only found himself sighing in return. “Obi-Wan, I’m good, I promise.”

Obi-Wan looked as if he was going to probe him more directly, taking another pause, but seemed to think better of it at the last minute. They were still briskly headed to a turbolift down the hall, but Obi-Wan managed to turn his head towards Anakin. “If you need anything, you know, I’m here to… talk.”

Anakin felt a lump in his throat. He surprisingly, in fact, did want to talk. Somewhere deep inside of him, that feeling let itself be known. But even as he opened his mouth, he just couldn’t will himself to speak.

Although Obi-Wan and him had made great strides in being more communicative in their relationship, there was still a line between them, specifically surrounding the day the twins were stolen, that he did not want to cross.

“I know,” was all he said instead.

Obi-Wan’s features fell for a second, like he was a little disappointed- but soon, that gesture was replaced by a curt nod. The turbolift doors, which they had just approached, chose that exact moment to swiftly open with a soft chime.

Obi-Wan had looked down for a moment, but then locked eyes again with his former Padawan and smiled. “After you, Anakin.”

Anakin nodded, and stepped onto the turbolift, Obi-Wan following behind right after.

* * *

Three standard hours later, Anakin breathed a silent sigh of relief as Yoda banged his gimmer stick on the floor of the Council room, adjourning its members. This meeting had been more tedious than most, and Anakin had not been able to focus on any part of it, minus the couple of times he was specifically asked for his input on certain decisions. There were too many uprisings, rebellions, and people in need of protection than he could count or keep track of. Usually, he did his best to follow along with the High Council meeting procedures, and managed to understand everything fairly well. He had gotten fairly used to it, after all, over the course of seven years. However, he couldn’t deny that he was more, well, distracted today than he was normally.

While he tried to make a quick exit, his heart sank as he noticed Depa Billaba come towards him. He briefly thought about studying the pale beige and brown tile floor of the Council room, or looking out one of the large, wide windows that gave the room’s inhabitants a view of almost the whole of Coruscant. Those were the two activities he’d been switching between during the meeting, after all, and maybe if he did either of those things, Master Billaba would think him busy in some meditative trance and not disturb him. However, Anakin quickly recognized that doing that would be absurd, and steeled himself for yet another conversation with a fellow Master. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Obi-Wan take his leave and walk out of the room.

Depa was kind enough, questioning him on his thoughts about a certain part of the Jedi Code that she had been mulling over. After the events of seven years ago, he’d become kind of a sounding board where curious Jedi could bounce their own opinions about the Code’s revision (or lack thereof) off of him. Mostly, Anakin relished these discussions. He was, as every Jedi knew, an advocate for changing and relaxing the Code, specifically around attachments. However, he could just not bring himself to care about the chat now. His mind continued to bounce from one subject to another- Reina, the flight manifests, Padme, Obi-Wan- the details of his day just seemed more important somehow.

Speaking of Obi-Wan, Anakin frowned as he noticed that his Master had not yet gone down the turbolift to the rest of the Temple’s quarters. Out of the corner of his eye, he had seen many Jedi Masters filter out of the room and enter the lift, until only he and Depa remained. However, Obi-Wan seemed to still be talking to someone that was hidden just out of sight.

Anakin suddenly realized that he had completely spaced out of the conversation, and had been staring at Obi-Wan for the past several seconds, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever he was conversing with. Master Billaba had evidently noticed this as well, and, perhaps seeing that Anakin was more distracted than paying attention to their talk, quietly thanked him and bid herself goodbye.

Anakin waited a while to make sure that Master Billaba had taken her leave before rushing as quickly as he could out of the High Council chamber and into the waiting area near the turbolift.

When he saw the person that Obi-Wan had been chatting with, the biggest smile he had had all day stretched across his face, the persistent ache that had been bothering him since training the younglings in the morning seemingly melting away in a second.

As Anakin continued gazing at the scene, almost awestruck, Obi-Wan had clearly caught his friend’s eye and motioned for the woman he was talking to to turn around.

Ahsoka’s features vivified, in a manner that Anakin was sure mirrored his own. In an instant, she had hurried across the floor, and beamed radiantly. “Skyguy!” she exclaimed, and pulled Anakin in for a quick hug.

After a moment, they both let go of their embrace, and Anakin smirked as Ahsoka tried to compose herself in a more collected manner. “It’s good to see you,” she finally said, a wide smile still across her face.

“You too, Snips,” he replied, beaming still. While they kept in touch through holocall and the Holonet, Anakin hadn’t seen his once-Padawan in months. “What have you been up to?” Anakin’s upper lip jerked upwards, as he thought of his next quip. “How’s Trace doing?”

Anakin could swear he saw some color rise in Ahsoka’s cheeks, but before he knew it, the Togruta woman had recovered and huffed, shaking her head at the obvious teasing, her montrals shaking with the movement. “She’s good, visiting Rafa at the moment while I came to find you and Gramps, here.”

Ahsoka and Anakin had to laugh as Obi-Wan gave a little huff of his own. “I’m not _that_ old, Ahsoka, and you know that.”

“Sure thing, Gramps,” Anakin chuckled, and stepped over to Obi-Wan to place a hand on his shoulder. “Sure thing.”

The trio sat there for a while, enjoying each other’s company, Anakin’s hand still resting on Obi-Wan’s shoulder. Anakin realized how much he had missed this- the three of them, together.

Before long, though, Anakin decided to speak up again, and put his arm back down by his side. He addressed Ahsoka. “You still didn’t answer my question though, Snips. What have you been doing?”

Suddenly, a cloud seemed to pass over Ahsoka’s face, but Anakin didn’t have the time to worry about what that might mean before she responded. “Actually, that’s why I came to find you and Master Kenobi.”

Obi-Wan and Ahsoka cast furtive glances at each other, which signaled to Anakin that they had at least briefly discussed the news Ahsoka wanted to tell him now. Shrugging, and hating the silence that had ensued, Anakin spoke up. He held his palms up. “Lay it on me.”

A small smile lit up her features for a moment, but the Togruta woman quickly became serious again. “Anakin, I…” she cleared her throat, a nervous tic of hers that had developed over the years, Anakin noticed. A deep breath later, and Ahsoka had resolved to bravely continue on. “I have news about… the twins.” She sighed, and continued, as if that needed clarification. “Luke and Leia.”

The joy that Anakin had felt at seeing his Padawan again instantly dissipated. The ache, that hole inside of him, had opened back up again, and it seemed to want to swallow him whole. He noticed that his breathing had picked up its pace, but fought to take slow, calm, deep breaths so he could reply to Ahsoka. “Ahsoka,” he said, and flinched at the pain that was so evident in his voice. “You know I told you- “

“I know, I know. You said that you were done searching for answers, and so I should stop too.” Ahsoka rattled off, having heard her Master’s answer before. She scoffed at herself a little. “But you know me, I can never stop.”

Anakin was about to open his mouth again when Ahsoka held up a hand to stop him. “Skyguy, this isn’t an insignificant lead.” She paused, and Anakin could sense the gravity behind that pause, through the Force and the way the Togruta took a deep breath, steadying herself almost, before replying. “I think I know where they are.”

If Anakin had already been caught off guard, and felt buried alive, he now felt like he was actively suffocating in his grave. A thousand emotions reverberated through him as if he was being jolted and shocked by an exposed electric wire. Worry, anger, grief, disbelief, happiness and above all, a weak but persistent tug of hope, consumed him. “Ahsoka,” he began.

“I can’t say much more here, I’m sorry, Anakin.” She glanced at Obi-Wan then, and Anakin was suddenly reminded that his Master was still in the room with them. “I believe I need to tell you both, and Padme, somewhere a little more private.” Anakin caught the grimace that flickered in her expression. “Some of this information… could come as a shock.”

Anakin had half a mind to demand that his former Padawan explain herself right then and there- how could she dangle that tidbit of information in front of him, only to reveal the rest of it to him later on?- but was abruptly reminded of the grimace that had just appeared on her face, her clear discomfort with telling him about the twins. It made him hesitate, and reluctantly, nod his head.

Nothing else needed to be said. Ahsoka nodded back. “I already told Padme that I’ll be there at 500 Republica shortly with the news. I’ll see you there.” She made to leave towards the turbolift, but then turned back around to Anakin, coming for one more brief hug. Anakin hugged her with all he had in him. He felt her melt into the hug a little, before moving away from him again. He might have even have seen the woman wipe a tear from her eye, but maybe that was just a figment of his imagination. “It _is_ really good to see you again, Skyguy,” she managed to get out.

“You too, Ahsoka.” Force, why did his voice sound so soft?

As she stepped on to the turbolift and waved goodbye, Obi-Wan moved closer to Anakin. The worry etched in his expression was palpable. Eventually, the Jedi Master spoke. “I’ll see you at the apartment, Anakin.”

“See you,” Anakin echoed, as he watched his former Master also get in the turbolift and leave him behind.

The Coruscant sun was setting now, the light washing everything in the room a fiery orange and red. Anakin wondered if he could ever look at a sunset the same again.

* * *

Padme was there to greet him when he got home. She immediately enveloped him in a hug as he entered the apartment from the balcony. “Oh, Ani,” she murmured, gripping the back of his robe tightly. Anakin held onto her dress like a lifeline in return.

In the end, Padme managed to escape the embrace, but locked Anakin into place with her hands on his shoulders. “I know that this is going to be painful for you- for us,” she stated, with all the authority of giving one of her Senate speeches. “But we can get through it. Together. Okay?”

Anakin hummed, reaching out to play with a lock of hair that had escaped out of Padme’s braid over the course of the day. “Okay,” he murmured.

His wife raised an eyebrow at his less than enthusiastic response, but then moved forward to kiss his check. The moment ended, however, when Padme caught sight of the chronometer on the wall.

“Ahsoka will be here soon,” she said, moving in the direction of the kitchen. “I have some shuura fruit to share, and I can make some tea.”

Anakin nodded his assent, and Padme started opening up several shelves to get the materials she needed.

He tried to step forward and help; it’s what he’d usually do. But something kept him rooted to the spot where Padme had just hugged him. He looked out the window, towards the apartment balcony. The speeders racing on the hyperlanes, and the lights of the buildings that were just starting to illuminate for the night. The sun still hung in the sky, though it had almost dipped below the horizon. The fiery red of the sunset still danced across the floor, just as it had done in the High Council chambers.

Anakin was startled out of his reverie by a knock on the door that faced the inner hallways of the apartment complex, and he heard Padme curse quietly under her breath, as he noticed that the tea was still steeping on the counter. “I’ll get it, angel,” he found himself responding.

He barely noted the thankful comment his wife sent his way as he answered the door. On the other side, to his disappointment and yet relief, was Obi-Wan.

“Hello, Anakin,” he greeted, walking into the apartment. Anakin again barely registered the polite welcome Padme gave Obi-Wan as he joined her in the kitchen.

He was just closing the door behind Obi-Wan when he heard the sound of a speeder land near the balcony. “Oh, that would be Ahsoka,” he heard Padme fret. But of course, he had already darted across the room by then, reaching for the door to let his old Padawan inside.

Ahsoka didn’t greet him with more than a nod this time, but Anakin knew it wasn’t an impolite gesture. Rather, he was sure that Ahsoka could sense his distress, and knew him well enough that he wouldn’t be very responsive to a greeting anyways. However, she did smile in Padme’s direction as she looked around the apartment, her eyes landing on different knick-knacks and trinkets around the room. “It looks lovely as ever here, Padme.”

“Thank you, Ahsoka,” his wife kindly responded. “It’s been quite a while since you were last here. It’s so good to see you.”

“And you, Senator,” the Togruta woman replied. She had made her way into the kitchen by then, and when close enough. Padme gave Ahsoka a short hug, Ahsoka smiling and leaning into the embrace.

When the hug ended, Padme immediately scooped up some slices of shuura and raised a kettle in Ahsoka’s direction. “Do you want anything to eat or drink? I’m afraid I don’t have much, Anakin and I were planning to order in tonight.”

Ahsoka briefly paused in thought, before saying, “Tea’s just fine, thank you.”

Anakin had walked over to near where Obi-Wan was standing now, and noticed that the man held a cup of tea in one hand, as well as some shuura fruit in the other. They silently acknowledged each other, before Padme spoke up again. “Let’s go to the couch, maybe? I think that would be the most comfortable place for this conversation.”

Everyone agreed, making their way to the large, U-shaped piece of blue furniture that sat right near the windows overlooking the balcony. The sun had basically disappeared from sight now, Anakin observed, and now the warm yellow lights outside, that lit the fountain on the balcony, were the only things that illuminated the inside of the apartment. A light on in the kitchen, and some soft floodlights in the back half of the living room, also provided some brightness in contrast to the darkness. Otherwise, though, they were in the shadows.

It took a couple of minutes for them all to position themselves on the couch- Ahsoka took a spot nearest to the balcony door, while Anakin and Padme sat together in the middle of the U. Obi-Wan sat on the side opposite from Ahsoka. The tension was thick in the room, before Ahsoka finished a sip of her tea and set it by a lamp on the sofa-end table. “So, I guess I’ll start.”

Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan nodded their heads.

The former Padawan sighed again, her hands nervously twisting in her lap. “Well, at first, I guess I should explain the work Trace and I were doing.” She bit her lip. “We were delivering relief supplies to the Outer Rim- or thought so, anyways. Thankfully, Trace had the good sense to look at what was in our cargo hold, and she discovered a bunch of spice.”

“Spice?” Anakin spoke up, something hot and protective flowing through his veins. “Ahsoka, that’s extremely dangerous.”

Interestingly enough, Ahsoka quirked an eyebrow, and looked like she was about to laugh. “Yeah, I’m more aware of that fact than you know.” Anakin leaned forward, wanting to hear more, but the woman waved him off. “I’ll tell you about it another time,” she said. She continued her story again. “However, once we realized that the spice was on board, we immediately made our way back to Jakku to speak with the authorities there.”

“I hope they were able to help you,” Padme said.

Ahsoka scoffed a little. “No, not really,” she replied. “But Trace and I knew we could find some of the shipyard workers at the cantina in town probably, question them as to how our cargo was loaded- whether it was an accident or not.” She paused, staring directly at Anakin and Padme then. “But we found something better there. We found Jak Kanaa.”

“You found him,” Anakin breathed. He felt Padme reach for his hand, then, and squeeze it tightly in hers. He could also sense Obi-Wan’s shock, and the way his former Master glanced in his direction to gauge his reaction.

Jak Kanaa was an infamous Twi’lek bounty hunter- and a man that they had suspected for a while of having something to do with the kidnapping of the twins. He had delivered something to Polis Massa, after all, right before Padme had arrived there in labor. A Coruscanti flight manifest had placed his next destination as Anaxes, which was the exact way that the ship that had fled with Luke and Leia had been headed. However, even after seven years of sleuthing, trying to find the bounty hunter’s whereabouts, it seemed that Jak Kanaa had, in the blink of an eye, disappeared from the galaxy.

But Ahsoka had finally _found him._

“I knew I couldn’t pass the opportunity up,” the Togruta woman had decided to continue. “And he was a surprisingly complacent blabbermouth.” She smirked. “Nothing that my lightsabers and Trace’s blaster couldn’t convince him to speak up about.”

Anakin felt a burst of pride in his Padawan, before Obi-Wan interjected. “And what did he say?” The Jedi Master was stroking his beard in thought.

Ahsoka sobered. Anakin was reminded, again, of the dark cloud that had settled on her features in the Temple. However, it seemed that she found the resolve to continue on with her tale. “I told him that I was there to ask about Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala’s twins. He told me… basically everything I requested to hear.”

She stopped, again. As he met her gaze, Anakin realized that he hadn’t seen that look of apprehension in Ahsoka’s eyes for a long time. Padme seemed to notice that too. “Ahsoka, whatever you have to say, we want to hear it. We… need to hear it,” the woman said.

Ahsoka nodded sharply, then, and looked away, staring up at the ceiling suddenly and sighing before starting to talk once more. “Kanaa told me that… Palpatine… had hired a bounty hunter friend of his to kidnap the children. Gis Sangor.”

Anakin bristled, and, since his hand still tightly intertwined with Padme’s, felt her give him a supportive squeeze. Almost a decade later after his death, and the mention of Anakin’s supposed mentor turned Sith Lord angered him in a manner that nothing else could.

For so long, as well, he had wanted to put a name to the grizzled white face of the man who had stolen his children. And now he had one.

He would make this Gis Sangor _pay_.

Ahsoka decided to keep talking, clearly wanting to provide further information. “Sangor was supposed to be paid by Palpatine for the delivery of the twins. I believe that Palpatine likely wanted to train them in the ways of the Sith, as we suspected.” She closed her eyes, and exhaled quietly. Anakin knew that what she had to say next would be the hardest thing of all. “However, when Darth Sidious was… murdered, Sangor realized that he wouldn’t be getting the reward for his deed. So, Kanaa convinced him to go to Tatooine. He had an outstanding debt to Jabba to pay, after all, according to Kanaa.”

“Tatooine?” Padme mused, confused. “What could he use to pay off his debt there? He never got the credits from the Chancellor.”

Anakin briefly noted Obi-Wan’s look of bewilderment as well. However, a sickening feeling started to pool in his gut. He felt like he was going to throw up.

He knew that there was another currency on Tatooine, other than physical money.

“Luke and Leia,” the words were out of his mouth as suddenly as he had had the thought.

Obi-Wan sucked in a breath, recognizing what Anakin’s statement meant. However, Padme was still perplexed. She looked at Anakin, and then back at Ahsoka. “Luke and Leia? What does that mean?”

Ahsoka’s face was so remorseful and apologetic, Anakin could barely stand to look at it. “Padme, Sangor needed to repay his debt. It seems like he went to Jabba’s Palace, and sold the twins to him, into slavery, to do just that.”

A horrified gasp escaped through Padme’s mouth, and she choked out a sob soon afterwards. Ahsoka couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes anymore, and had decided to stare at the floor. Anakin heard Obi-Wan give a gigantic sigh, and scrape his hands down his face.

He should’ve comforted Padme, rubbing soothing circles on her back, kissing her on the cheek. He should have embraced Ashoka, thanking her for telling them about the twins, since explaining this to them could not have been easy. Maybe he should’ve even patted Obi-Wan on the shoulder, assuring his Master that everything would be okay.

But Anakin couldn’t do any of those things. He stood up.

“Anakin- “a warning, a query, came out of Obi-Wan’s mouth. Anakin paid it no mind.

Before he could even register what he was doing himself, Anakin was running. Out the door, onto the balcony, past the fountain, to this speeder. Lifting off into the Coruscant sky, now pitch black, the multicolored lights of the skyscrapers and billboards around him were almost blinding. He felt something wet slide down his face, and immediately knew that he was starting to cry.

He couldn’t focus on a single thought, but this was much worse than what he had felt earlier at the Temple. Every emotion felt like a punch in the gut. Anakin desperately tried to think about something else, other than the grief that seemed to spill from every cut or scar he had ever procured. It felt like his wounds were being stuffed with sand as he screamed, or every limb was being sliced with a lightsaber. Excruciating pain, of fury, sorrow, and loss, hit him in full force.

As he turned corners around buildings, flew in between the different Coruscant levels, up, down, and around, he tried to shake off the ache.

But it wouldn’t leave him.

He couldn’t forget where, and what, his children might be now.

Anakin was alone in an alleyway, now, having moved so far down into the lower levels of Coruscant that he no longer had any idea where he was. That didn’t matter though.

He stopped his speeder in a corner. He didn’t try to step out the vehicle, or make an effort to turn on the repulsors again and head home. He just sat there, staring at the darkness in front of him, encroaching on him, about to swallow him whole-

All Anakin could do was scream into the black, a raw, roaring, call of pain echoing off the walls that threatened to cave in around him.

* * *

He didn’t know how long it took him to finally make it back to his and Padme’s apartment. However, when he got home, his wife was there waiting for him.

“Ahsoka and Obi-Wan left an hour or so ago.” She sighed. “They were very worried about you.”

Anakin nodded silently. He didn’t feel capable of emoting much else. Where he had felt full of emotion earlier, Anakin now just felt empty. Totally numb.

Padme’s forehead creased at his nonresponse. “Anakin, we can’t cope with this if we don’t talk about it.”

And like that, a fuse had gone off. “I’m sorry, Padme, but talk about what? Our children being kidnapped? Every false lead and heartbreak we’ve experienced because of them? We’ve done plenty of that.” Anakin clenched his prosthetic hand, while jabbing his finger in Padme’s face with the other. “Do you want to go over every agonizing detail that we’ve just been told? Do you want to mull over the fact that for the past seven years we’ve left Leia and Luke in…”

The dam broke. He had thought he had run out of tears on his joyride through the hyperlanes of Coruscant, but it turned out that he could waste more water. He started to bawl, and was immediately grateful that Padme went to wrap her arms around him, holding him close.

Anakin just stood there for a while, crying, only focusing on Padme. Her soft skin, the perfume of hers that smelled like fresh flowers. Eventually, tears were no longer streaming down his face, but were only a small trickle. He wiped his eyes and stepped back from his wife, embarrassed at his outburst, sure that his eyes were red and sore. “I’m- “he started to apologize.

But Padme shushed him. “No need to say you’re sorry. This is painful for me, and I can’t imagine what it must be like for you.”

Anakin sniffled a bit, and took a deep breath to center himself again. “This- this is the last thing I ever wanted for them, Padme. They were supposed to be… the first freeborn Skywalkers in generations.” He paused to collect his thoughts, and saw the Senator nod in understanding. He had explained that to Padme, soon before the twins’ birth- how meaningful that was, to him. “I didn’t know whether I’d be a good father to Luke and Leia, or whether they’d love me, or anything like that. Even when they were stolen, I didn’t know where they were, or what they might be doing. But I thought I’d know that at least, they were free.” He couldn’t help but clench his fist again. “And now… I know they might not even have that.”

“I know,” Padme responded, after he had explained himself. “I understand.” Anakin saw, though, her features unfurl, a soft smile plastered on her face. “But Ani,” Anakin could see now that she was beaming. “They aren’t dead. We might be able to bring them _home._ ”

That hope, once, that Anakin had felt back in the Council chambers, when Ahsoka told him she had news about the twins, surfaced again. He vaguely even recognized it from months ago, before the Day of Remembrance on Naboo. He couldn’t let it overwhelm him, but Anakin decided to cling to that optimism, the confidence that their children would be coming home with them sooner than later.

“You’re right, Padme,” he replied. “We could bring them home.”

* * *

Anakin woke up late the next morning. Padme had already left for the Senate, a message on his commlink confirming it. He got out of bed, put on his clothes for the day, went to the kitchen, and made himself a cup of caf. He dialed three people on his comm. He had a purpose, a mission, now.

The holos of Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Rex appeared in front of him. “I have a request for you all.”

“Whatever you might need, General,” Rex replied, doing a small salute with two fingers.

“Anything, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said soon afterwards, smiling warmly.

“You can count on us, Skyguy,” Ahsoka grinned.

And Anakin couldn’t help but grin with her, the happiness infectious. He took a sip of caf, and raised his chin up. It was always easy to slip back into position, his hands behind his back, feet spread apart, as if he were still in the GAR in the Clone Wars, briefing troopers for their next mission.

“We’re going to go to Tatooine, to Jabba’s Palace. We’re getting my children back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg hi I can't believe I wrote almost 8000 words of this hahaha
> 
> tbh I know my last chapter note was super formal but I usually write like this cause I tweet a lot so I think this is what chapter notes are going to look like from now on
> 
> my greatest fear honestly is that some of these characters seem OOC but please know this is a time 7+ years later from canon where Anakin managed to do the right thing and everyone is doing their best to be better about their ~emotions~ and also the Code is in a weird state as I tried to outline here in the fic!
> 
> also I haven't watched a lot of the movies (specifically the prequels) since 2-3 months ago so if I ever describe something wrong or make any other type of error I am sorry and pls let me know! again, I use Wookieepedia religiously to make sure I don't make any egregious errors, but still!
> 
> the relationship between Jocasta Nu and Anakin isn't really canon, but I have to thank Fialleril again for the wonderful fic Biscuits in the Library which inspired what I wrote!! I've always wanted to write about their relationship in that AU!
> 
> NEXT we will be visiting Lukka and Leila finally!! and then the whole gang will go off to find them. I'm still aiming for a chapter a week, though it might be longer- I'll let you know! I start my internship Tuesday lol so I'll have a good idea of what's up then
> 
> THANK YOU for all the nice comments and kudos and bookmarks and subscriptions!! I appreciate them always <3


	3. Imagining the Stars

Lukka huddled in on himself, hugging his knees, as he tried to block out the noise of the fighting around him. Wherever he was, it was dark, and surprisingly damp for a desert world like Tatooine. The sounds of fighting, as well, were ones he had never heard before. Some he recognized, of course- the sound of human fist on human flesh- but there was a low buzzing, an almost electrifying reverberation through the place that shook him to his very bones.

He didn’t know how long the noise continued- but suddenly, there was a loud thunk, as if someone had hit metal, and Lukka could tell that whatever weapon had made the buzzing noise had been turned off by its owner. He felt brave enough, then, to open his eyes, which had been pressed into his knees for so long they had started to hurt and burn. Moving his head upwards, and peeking his eyes open finally, Lukka gawked at the sight that stood before him.

He was indeed in a wet place- underground, it seemed. It didn’t seem much different than Jabba’s underground quarters for his slaves, actually- the ones he had slept in all his life- except that it was moist and soggy instead of sandy. It wasn’t the wet, underground location though that shocked Lukka. It was the human man standing in front of him, and the creature that was perched on his shoulder.

The man stood tall over Lukka, a worried and pained expression etched on his face as he stared at someone directly in front of him. Lukka looked around, expecting for someone else to be there- the object of this man’s attention. However, he soon realized with surprise that there was no one else in the area. The man was gazing at _him._

Lukka distantly registered that the man was coming closer and closer to him, anxious features still knotted up in worry. Usually, if someone strange approached him, Lukka’s instinct would be to run as far as he could in the other direction, in case he was going to get yelled at, beaten, or both. But strangely enough, he felt nothing but peace and affection towards the human that was now leaning forward on his knees toward him.

“Luke, are you alright?” the man said, as he went and cupped Lukka’s chin in his hand. Again, Lukka knew that he should already be on his feet, running away, but he couldn’t will himself to move. He stood there, sitting on the damp metal, and savored the kind touch of the human man.

He wasn’t that old, Lukka realized. He’d mistaken his height for age, for some reason, when he had been farther away, but now he could see that the man couldn’t be any older than in his 30s. He wore strange, black robes, and Lukka noted that there was some sort of sword hilt attached to them. Maybe that is where the sound of the buzzing weapon had come from earlier. The man also had long, golden brown hair that reached almost to his shoulders. What Lukka liked most about him, though, were his sky-blue eyes. Lukka didn’t get to see his reflection much, but he _knew_ those eyes. They were his.

The man was still staring at him, and Lukka blanched as he remembered that he had been asking him a question. Quietly, Lukka nodded to him. He didn’t feel like any bones were broken, or he had any cuts or scrapes, at least. It was the best answer he could offer, at least, out of all the emotions he was feeling- confusion, curiosity, and a bright, bubbling feeling of happiness.

After he had nodded, Lukka noted that the electrifying feeling in the room, which hadn’t ended like the buzzing of the weapon had, suddenly… deflated. The man in front of him, too, seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. A stray thought of Lukka’s wondered- had that feeling in the room come from this man?

With the man close to him now, though, Lukka also had a better view of the animal that was perched on his shoulder. It soon caught his sole attention. It was a small bird, with beautiful grey and red feathers. They had a strong, yet short, black beak that Lukka knew was perfect for picking locks on handcuffs and cages. Perfect, in fact, for freeing a slave’s chains.

While Lukka didn’t recognize the man with golden hair and blue eyes, he absolutely knew who the bird perched on his shoulder was. It was the shapeshifter Ekkreth. Ever since he was a baby, Grandmother had told him tales of the trickster, who always managed to fool a Depur. Lukka smiled then, pointing out the bird to the man, in case he had missed it. “You have Ekkreth with you!”

The man chuckled then, and grinned at the bird that had rested on his right shoulder. He had noticed it then. He turned his attention then back to Luke. “Yes, Luke, and we’re coming to get you.”

“You’re going to free me? And all the slaves?” Lukka blurted out. The happy, giddy feeling in his chest exploded. He could barely stop himself from jumping up and down.

Interestingly, Lukka saw, a brief flash of pain had crossed the golden-haired man for a moment at his comment. However, the expression only flitted across his face for a second before the man had Lukka wrapped up in a tight embrace. “Yes, Lukka, as many as we can. We will be there soon.”

Had he ever been hugged by someone like this, other than Leila, and Grandmother of course? Lukka didn’t think so. And he still had no idea why the man who had Ekkreth on his shoulder seemed to love and care for him so much. But, enfolded in this man’s arms, Lukka couldn’t say he had any desire to be let go. He closed his eyes again, wanting to rest, for just a little while-

And then, he woke up.

Lukka groaned as he saw a white sliver of light- sunshine, from the first of the suns rising in the morning- filtered through a tiny crack in the bars that were in place above him. These bars created a subfloor below where he, Leila, Grandmother, and the other slave children slept at night. Turning to his left side, he tried to a get a glimpse of his sister, who always slept next to him.

Not to Lukka’s surprise, Leila was already looking at him. Her pillow was underneath her head, and the patchy, small blanket they were given to sleep with was wrapped snuggly around her- the air was still cool, after all, with only one sun in the sky. Though Lukka knew this was to give the illusion that she had just woken up, he knew it was very likely that Leila had been staring at him for the past several minutes. “Did you have the dream?” she asked, without prompting.

Lukka sat up, scooting closer to his sister. “Yes,” he nodded excitedly. “I saw Ekkreth, and the golden-haired man.”

Leila also shot up, moving towards Lukka, grinning softly. “Me too.” She frowned suddenly. “It was weird. That golden man kept calling me Leia.”

Lukka paused. “Yeah, he called me Luke, mostly. He did name me Lukka at the end, though.”

Leila huffed in exasperation at her twin brother. “Luke _is_ short for Lukka though. He called me Leia the entire time. That isn’t my name!”

Lukka prevented himself from rolling his eyes. Sometimes, his sister could be really dramatic. He shrugged instead. “Maybe he was talking about the Mighty One, not really you.”

She scowled again. “No, I could tell. He was talking to me.” She looked like she was going to complain again, before asking him another question. “Did you go out into the desert too?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I only met the man with Ekkreth on his shoulder.”

“I was on the freedom trail, with you,” Leila said, a dreamy look on her face, her eyes shut, as if she was recalling what it felt like to be outdoors, to have the fresh feel of the wind brush past you. Lukka envied her. It had been quite a while since he had gone outside, even in his dreams. “We walked for hours, and I could see all the stars. And then we made it to a farm. There were a lot of moisture vaporators around.” She opened her eyes again, and smiled. “I could tell we were free, Lukka.”

Lukka smiled back at his sister. It sounded like a nice dream. He tried to picture what it was like to be free.

He kind of hoped it felt like the golden-haired man’s embrace, warm and familiar and loving.

Lukka then saw Leila gaze past his shoulder. When she had caught sight of what she needed, she locked eyes with him again. “Grandmother’s gone. She’ll be coming back with breakfast, soon.”

Lukka nodded. The ray of light that peaked through the window on the upper-level, filtering down to the children below, was brighter now, and thicker. The suns were rising, and the twins knew they must rise with them. Lukka stood up, and picked up his blanket and pillow to return to the corner of the room where the sleeping materials were stored during the day. He watched as his feet, and Leila’s, kicked up small grains of sand into the air, which were illuminated by the sunshine.

No sooner than they had completed this task, Grandmother came down the steep stone steps that led into the lower room from the upper half. She held two big pots in her hands. The other kids in the room had just started to wake up, so Leila and Lukka went to go help the woman with what she was carrying.

Grandmother smiled softly as she saw Lukka and Leila. “You are first suns this morning, aren’t you?” she said. The twins merely smiled back and put their hands on her arms, full with the pots, to steady the elderly woman as she walked down the last three steps. When Grandmother had stepped back down on the sandy floor, Leila and Lukka let go of her. She nodded her head toward them, in thanks, briefly. Grandmother then strode across the room and laid the pots down on her own blanket that she had left on the floor, beckoning Lukka and Leila over after she had done so. The children immediately lifted the tops off the pots, and the heavy, yeasty smell of breakfast meal, a soupy, grainy blend mixed with blue milk, instantly filled the room. As they did so, several other kids crowded around the pots. Their waiting was soon rewarded as Grandmother came back to the pots, handing out small stone spoons to each hungry child to eat their breakfast.

Lukka’s stomach growled, even after he scarfed down his three allotted spoonfuls of meal. Even though he was hungry, however, he knew not to eat anymore than he needed- there had to be enough meal for everyone, Grandmother always said. They had to support each other.

Speaking of the elderly woman, Lukka noted that she was coming towards them, her own empty bowl of meal in hand. Her gray, curly short hair fell just below her ears in ringlets, and she was wearing the simple brown cloth dress she always wore. It had been patched, many times now, but Lukka knew that it was all she had- therefore, there would certainly be more patchwork to come in the future.

“Are you done now, Lukka?” Upon nodding his assent and handing the bowl to her, Grandmother leaned down a bit and patted his shoulder, kissing him afterwards on the cheek. Leila, who had now finished her meal as well, also handed her bowl to Grandmother, the woman similarly showering her with affection. Lukka grinned. Although Grandmother wasn’t their real grandmother, she was as close to a family member as Lukka and Leila had, and loved them both.

“Run along,” Grandmother said, after laughing at how Leila rubbed furiously at her cheek, trying to get the tiny bit of spit off from Grandmother’s kisses. “Makil is waiting to give you your tasks for today.”

“Yes, Grandmother,” the twins replied, and climbed the stairs to the upper level, running out the door and upwards into Jabba’s Palace.

* * *

Lukka hated Jasc Makil. He knew Leila did too; he could see the way she had her jaw clenched as they made their way into Jabba’s main throne room. However, they were required more often than not to see him: the overseer was in charge of giving Jabba’s slaves their tasks of the day and supervising them while they worked, after all.

The twins began to smell Makil before they ever caught sight of him. Lukka did his best not to gag at the scent- Makil wafted of piss, alcohol, and the slimy reptilian species that Jabba, and therefore his cronies, ate. Soon, though, the children could see the human man, slouched against a wall that was at the entrance to Jabba’s throne room. They approached him, Lukka taking note of the flask that Makil held in his hand. He barely seemed to have a grip on it. It seemed like it could fall and crash onto the floor at any minute.

As he caught sight of the twins, the overseer immediately frowned, his eyes blinking open and closed as if he was trying to wake himself up. “Up a bit early, aren’t you?” he grumbled in Huttese.

“I thought you said you liked us to get here earlier in the mornings, since you screamed at us last week for being on time,” Leila tossed back. Lukka cringed inwardly at that. He knew that Makil would not like such a retort.

Sure enough, the man seemed to snap instantly awake, and kneeled down to Leila, poking his pointer finger in her face. “You better watch how you talk to me, slave scum,” he growled through gritted teeth.

Leila and Makil stood staring at each other for a while then, scowling. Although Lukka stood close to Leila, he looked at anywhere but the two humans and their stare-off. Makil straightened though, eventually, and addressed the kids. “The princess here will stay in the throne room today. There’s some wiring that needs fixing.”

“That’s not my name,” Leila pointed out.

“What did I say about watching it, princess?”

Lukka watched as Leila glowered, but didn’t retort. She knew, as well as he did, that talking back again would resort in a more dangerous job for the day, or worse, a scolding. At worst, a beating.

“And you, Lukka,” Makil barked. “The Rancor’s cage needs cleaning.”

“But he’s already cleaned it three times this week!” Leila piped up again. Somewhere, amidst his fear, Lukka felt a hint of thankfulness. His sister was always quick to come to his defense.

“And the Rancor shits a lot, princess,” the man nastily countered. “The job still has to be done.” Makil turned towards Lukka. “He doesn’t mind, does he?”

Lukka did mind, in fact. Like Leila had said, this was now his fourth time this week to be tasked with cleaning the Rancor’s cage. However, he hardly ever wanted to fight with Makil, unlike his sister. So instead, he hung his head, and looked at the ground. Slowly and begrudgingly, he nodded.

“There’s a good boy,” the overseer responded, giving Lukka such a hard clap on the shoulder that the child almost fell down on the sandy floor.

Lukka wanted to sink into the floor, and almost didn’t register the ghost of a touch on his shoulder- Leila, offering him a gesture of comfort. Lukka smiled softly at her, but then shook his head. More than anything, he wanted Leila to place that hand on his shoulder, or even pull him into a ginormous hug- but he couldn’t risk giving Makil another thing to yell at them over.

Leila evidently accepted his message though, and while a hint of a frown passed over her features, she reluctantly pulled away from Lukka, biting her lip and nodding at him in understanding.

“Aww, the twin connection. How sweet,” Makil taunted them, after witnessing the exchange. “But you both better get to work.”

Lukka did decide then, to go for one act of rebellion. He reached out his hand to Leila’s, and, firmly grasping her hand in his, squeezed it for support.

Leila glanced at their clasped hands, and then up at her brother. She squeezed his hand in response.

Makil, however, did not care for the touching display of affection. “Will you two get a move on?” he said. “Other slaves need to scurry along too, you know.”

“I’ll see you later, Lukka,” Leila shouted across the room, as they started to go their separate ways.

“I’ll see you soon, Leila,” Lukka replied, as he watched his sister turn a corner and disappear from sight.

* * *

Cleaning the Rancor’s cage was dangerous, that much Lukka knew.

The beast himself was always chained up when Lukka did his job, thankfully. The huge, pale creature sat near the entrance to his den, overseen by his handlers, other fellow slaves, who usually dressed themselves in animal furs and cloth. However, Lukka was never fooled by its seeming complacency. He knew, as well as the Rancor’s handlers, that the carnivore could be enraged at any time, and simply snap Lukka up in his immense jaws during its wild rampage.

That’s why Lukka had to work quickly. He knew why he was chosen to clean the cage, after all. He was small- one of the smallest working children, anyways- and could fit into every nook and cranny to clean up poop and the bones of the Rancor’s victims. He was also fast, and agile, in case he needed to dodge and duck away from a Rancor on the loose.

It was taking a little bit longer than normal for Lukka to clean the cage today. He was even starting to sweat as the pit started to be warmed by the rising suns, even though the cage itself was located underground. Although he’d only been in the throne room once or twice when a victim was thrown into the pit below, Lukka would never forget it. He knew that most visitors to Jabba’s Palace were unaware of the death trap that lay below them, but all the slaves were keenly aware of the punishment that awaited them, should they fail their Master. Remembering the crunching and gnawing of bones made Lukka shudder. Grimly, he guessed that there must have been a lot of slaves, dancers, and courtiers that had irritated Jabba this week. Their bones were littered all over the place.

When all the bones and excrement was picked up and piled into the center of the cage, Lukka steeled himself as he plunged his hands into the pile of human remains. He hated the way that his hands stunk for hours afterwards, and the gooey feeling of the poop as it ran through his fingers. The slick blood and cold bones he had to handle were not any better. It all, however, went into the stone buckets he had picked up at the entrance to the cage earlier.

Lukka finally gathered everything in the buckets, and nodded at the keepers as they watched him leave. He deliberately avoided meeting the beady-eyed gaze of the Rancor, though Lukka could sometimes swear that the beast was staring at him and tracking his every move.

The only good thing about cleaning the Rancor pit, Lukka thought, was the fact that he had to wash out the buckets afterwards. This gave him an opportunity to be near the water troughs that Jabba had placed just inside the entrance to his palace. Not only did it give Lukka a brief peek at the desert that laid outside, but it also allowed him to wash his hands, and sometimes his face and feet, if he was feeling particularly desperate and wanted to be clean.

Today was one of those days. After throwing the bones and shit into a corner of the washroom, Lukka brought over the buckets and waded them through the water. When they were as clean as he could make them, and he had returned the buckets to another corner of the room where they belonged, Lukka squeezed his eyes shut and pinched his nose as he ducked his head underneath the water. Although it was murky, and filled with the waste of people and animals, it was still water, and Lukka breathed in a content sigh as his head surfaced from the pool, savoring the way that the water dripped from his hair and onto his back. Although he wanted to duck his head under the water again, after waiting a little while longer for his hair to dry, Lukka knew he had a more important task to undertake. He cupped his hands and scooped them into the water troughs and then made his way to Jabba’s throne room.

It was still fairly early in the day, just before all the suns had risen to their highest point in the sky, and Jabba’s courtiers, slaves, and confidantes, as well as the Hutt in question were just starting to wake up in the throne room. Again, Lukka wanted to pinch his nose at the smell of alcohol, dead reptilian creatures, and pee. However, he cradled the water in his hands, determined to find Leila.

He found her huddled towards the back of the throne room, in the alcove where musicians and dancers usually took the stage, still working on the wires that Jasc Makil had tasked her with in the morning. She was frowning, Lukka could see, intently studying the two cables she held in her hands. “Leila,” he whispered to her.

The girl swiveled around, her eyes brightening as she saw her brother. “Lukka, what are you doing here?”

Lukka smiled. “I have some water for you.”

Leila dropped the wires then, moving closer to him. She studied the water intently, just as she had looked at the cables only moments before. Her nose scrunched, in disgust. “That looks like it’s from the water troughs.”

Lukka huffed. Not only was his sister dramatic, and always arguing, but she also tended to be picky about what they ate and drank. “It’s still water, though, Leila,” he pointed out.

He could see her grimace, but Leila only nodded, knowing what a kind gesture it was for her brother to share some water with her. It was likely that she wouldn’t be given anything to drink until the evening meal, hours later in the day, anyways. Lukka held out his cupped hands to her, and she bent down and lapped up the water.

When she had finished, Lukka wiped his hands, and briefly startled at the unexpected hug Leila gave him in return. However, he soon leaned into her embrace.

They unfurled. “Are you having any trouble with the wires?” Lukka then asked.

He caught the way that Leila almost blurted “no”, but then watched as she deflated. “I can’t tell which is the blue wire and which is the red one,” she admitted, quietly.

Lukka moved to where the cables were. Leila quickly picked up the two she was having trouble telling the difference between. Studying them himself for a moment, Lukka then felt confident in giving her instructions. “The one in your left hand is the blue wire. The right one is red.”

Leila nodded, and then moved to go back to work. However, she paused, and turned to glance back at her brother. “Can you stay here, for a little while, and let me know which wire is which again?”

“Sure,” he replied. Lukka knew what she was asking. It was evident to most of the slaves, the way her right eye never focused on the people and objects in front of her. Grandmother said that when he and Leila had been toddlers, she had been hit in the eye with something- Grandmother said she forgot exactly what- and her eyesight had never been the same since. Lukka could recall some things about the incident- namely, the frantic trip into Mos Eisley that he, Grandmother, and a healer were allowed to take into town. But in the end, the details didn’t matter. Leila had trouble seeing some things, but he was determined to always be around when she might need a little bit of extra help.

They both sat in silence for a while, the peace only being occasionally broken when Leila asked Lukka a question related to what she was working on. Leila, though, suddenly piped up with an opinion. “I hate when they make you work in that cage. I’m always worried you’re going to hurt your leg again.”

Lukka’s initial reaction was to bristle, but he took a deep breath, knowing Leila didn’t mean to make him feel upset. “I’m fine, Leila. It was just an accident, a long time ago.”

“But they still make you work in there, and you still have a limp!” she whirled back around to him, indignant at the injustice. “I don’t understand how they can do that.”

“Like Makil said. There’s stuff that needs to be cleaned up. And I’m good at the job.” Lukka crossed his arms.

Leila sighed, her head cocked to the side, as if he clearly didn’t understand the point of her comment. However, she didn’t pursue the conversation any further, not trying to start an argument. It’s not like they tried to draw attention to their deficiencies, anyways. They always had to seem as capable as possible, unless they wanted to face the possibility of being separated and sold. Instead, she turned back to the cables that were plugged into the wall. “While you’re here, you can at least tell me a good story.”

Lukka beamed. It was one of his favorite things to do, whenever he had the time to rest- tell Leila, and any of the other salves children that would listen, the tales that he had come up with in his head, inspired by the heroes and prophets in Grandmother’s stories. “I can tell you an Akar Hinil one!”

He saw the smile that gradually lifted Leila’s features. “Alright, I want to hear it.”

Lukka became animated as he pantomimed the great sail barge that Akar owned over the dunes of Tatooine. He was just beginning to tell Leila about how the Twi’lek, a slave turned pirate, was about to approach the Sarlacc pit, and save the children of Ar-Amu who had been left there by Depur in punishment, when the twins noticed a shadow fall over them.

Looking over their shoulders, Lukka and Leila saw Bib Fortuna, the majordomo of Jabba’s Palace. He held a finger to his lips, and, when he saw that the children had turned around to focus on him, whispered harshly under his breath in Huttese, lowering his finger to do so. “Stop your slave speak. The language hurts our ears. You are bothering us all. Do you want to wake up the mighty Jabba?” The pale Twi’lek paused to gesture around the throne room, choosing to point out every victim of theirs who had had to listen to their musings.

Lukka almost wanted to laugh, then, at how unlike Akar Hinil was to Fortuna. But he knew better. “Sorry, Master Fortuna,” he apologized in Huttese, dipping his head in respect.

Leila was not far behind, lowering her head as well. “Sorry, Master,” she also repeated in Huttese.

The Twi’lek nodded sharply, his work done. “Get back to your chores,” he stated. “And if I catch you two chatting away again, there will be no evening meal for you both.”

The twins watched Bib turn away from them and around a corner before they relaxed again. “You should get going, Lukka,” Leila said after a while. “I’m sure Makil will have another task for you to do.”

Lukka nodded. He didn’t want to leave Leila. In fact, he wanted nothing more than to finish his Akar Hinil story for his sister to hear. He knew she was right, however, and that Fortuna’s promise of no evening meal was no empty threat. “If you need anything, send a signal to me.”

Leila smiled. The other slaves in Jabba’s Palace would relay any message between them if necessary, but the two knew they would sense, in their bones and in their hearts, if either of them needed any help. “Go, Lukka,” she finally responded, shooing him away.

Lukka grinned back, before turning away from his sister and shuffling back to Jasc Makil, prepared to ask for another task.

* * *

After their evening meal of bread and mushrooms picked off the moisture vaporators around the palace, Lukka and Leila had dragged out their pillows and blankets again on the sandy floor of the children’s slave quarters. Besides one or two other children, they were the only ones in the room. Some of the slaves were still completing their tasks for the day, but most were visiting with their parents, the evening one of the rare times that slave kids in Jabba’s Palace were allowed to have contact with their parents and guardians.

Leila and Lukka, though, had no family in the palace. Or any family at all, actually. Grandmother said it was likely that the reason that they had been sold into slavery in the first place was that their parents had been killed and there was no one else left to take care of them. It didn’t sadden them much, though- they’d gotten used to this fact of life as they’d become older. It was a part of becoming a big kid. In fact, having everyone gone created a perfect environment to play in the quarters.

For their fifth birthday, Grandmother had managed to sneak the twins two spinning tops. Kept in their pockets every single day, the black, shiny cylindrical tops, no bigger than each of the twins’ thumbs, were Lukka and Leila’s prized possessions.

“Look at what I can do, Leila,” Lukka murmured, as he carefully focused on the tops that he and Leila had gotten to spin moments earlier. He closed his eyes, and raised his hand upwards. Leila gasped and giggled with delight as the tops started to lift a tiny bit off the ground.

Eventually, Lukka breathed out a deep sigh and the tops fell to the ground again. However, he was practically shining with pride as Leila clapped at his display.

“I do hope that you’re making sure to keep your gifts a secret from Depur, young ones,” a voice sounded from above them, the soft, lilting Amatakka sounding beautiful to the twins’ ears.

The children looked up to see the kindly smile Grandmother had plastered on her face, as well as the light of the lantern she carried that flickered across her visage. “Grandmother!” they laughed, standing up and hugging the elderly woman around her middle. They pulled back, though, when they felt her wince.

“Are you alright, Grandmother?” Leila asked, frowning at the woman’s clear discomfort.

Grandmother sat down next to them, then, groaning and huffing as she motioned to the twins’ makeshift beds and set her lantern down. Although they groaned, Luke and Leila complied, each stuffing their top in their pant pockets and moving to their blankets. She gently nodded at them both when they had completed the task. “I tried to ask for extra food from Makil today. He did not grant my request.”

Lukka and Leila both knew what that meant, but refused to comment on it further. No need to cause any more pain, where a master had already done so.

After a moment, though, Grandmother regained her composure, acting as if nothing had happened. “You didn’t answer my question earlier, twin suns.”

“No, Grandmother, we never do anything outside of the quarters,” Luke answered, dutifully, the same answer expected of him many times before.

“Good, good,” the woman grinned. Another pause. “Well, the suns are down, so it’s time to go to sleep, Lukka, Leila.”

Lukka grabbed the bottom hem of Grandmother’s dress. “Grandmother, can you tell us a story? Please?” The image of the golden-haired man, from the night before, with the red and grey bird on his shoulder, came to mind. “I want to hear something about Ekkreth.”

“ _I_ want to hear about the prophet Tena,” Leila butted in, trying to push her brother aside so she was closer to the elderly woman. “I want to hear about how she lit fires in the desert to guide the slaves.”

A guilty look crossed Grandmother’s face briefly, but it was gone in an instant. “I’m sorry, children, but I am simply too tired tonight.”

Lukka and Leila hung their heads, disappointed. However, they glanced back up at Grandmother when she began to speak again. “But I want you to do something for me.”

“Anything, Grandmother,” the twins chorused.

The woman sat up then, moving to stand up. Leila and Lukka scooted back to their blankets, and smiled as Grandmother pulled the covers over their bodies.

“I want you to imagine the stars. Count them for me. Can you do that?” the elderly woman instructed after she had completed the task, now standing over the twins as they were tucked in for the night.

“Yes,” they nodded solemnly. It was always a great privilege, to be asked by Grandmother to do something.

“Goodnight, young ones.” The woman smiled back at them as she left, the soft glow of her lantern trailing behind her.

The twins sat in silence, soaking in the solemnity of their mission for a second. Soon, though, they had reached across the sand between their blankets, and clutched their hands together.

“Let’s name ourselves, okay, Lukka? Before we count the stars,” Leila spoke up and whispered, gently.

“Okay,” Lukka agreed.

Leila decided to start. “My name is Leila, scales of the Mighty One. I’m sister to Lukka,” she solemnly stated.

After a brief moment of silence, to let the words sink into the sand like water, Lukka responded in turn. “My name is Lukka, free. I am brother to Leila.”

Lukka felt Leila grip his hand, then, and he squeezed hers back. Besides their tops, their names were the only other things they had that were truly theirs. When they were babies, Grandmother chose their names. The names of their true selves, she once said, since no one was around to remember or recall what their parents had potentially named them at birth. There was power, the twins knew, in saying their names. In claiming what was theirs.

The children stared up at the bars above them. Nothing peeked between them now- the moonlight was never strong enough to penetrate the metal. There were, in fact, no stars to really look at, or count. They couldn’t be seen from the slave quarters. Lukka and Leila had only seen the stars three or four times in their life, on the rare times that they had chores to complete at night, or had to accompany another slave into Mos Eisley to assist with carrying an important shipment. That was why they had to imagine the stars.

It was never hard though, for the twins, to picture the tiny pinpricks of light. The way the shining suns always outshone the dark emptiness of space. It was like a memory, maybe, or destiny, fate. Maybe they were born in the stars. It seemed like their home, after all.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…” Lukka and Leila started to count them.

The bars that caged them in began to slip further and further away, until they disappeared from the twins’ sight entirely. The only thing that remained was the expanse of the night sky.

Right before they fell asleep, all they could think about was that feeling of freedom- of no longer being trapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg haha another 6000 words... someone explain to me why my depressive self couldn't write anything for pleasure for years but somehow is churning out these long chapters all of a sudden... quickly
> 
> well, I hope y'all enjoyed meeting Lukka and Leila! this chapter is sort of filler but I wanted to introduce the twins and their circumstances, since all we've seen up to this point is Anakin and the gang. again, standard disclaimer that I am not a know-it-all about Star Wars and therefore apologize if I got something wrong, but I am doing my best to reflect everything accurately in this universe!
> 
> and yes! Lukka and Leila are disabled! I love Star Wars' disability representation (though, of course, it's problematic in some ways) and wanted to add to that!
> 
> shoutout as well to Fialleril again for this awesome Tatooine Slave Culture meta. it really is canon in my mind.
> 
> I am blown away by the response to this story and really appreciate everyone's kudos, bookmarks, and especially your comments! thank you for that!
> 
> my internship just started and while I do think it might make me a little slower to update, I am still going to aim for writing a new chapter every week. it might be every two weeks, but I don't think it'll have to be any longer than that. 
> 
> I also wanted to add that if you feel like you can, please consider donating to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, Black Visions Collective, Reclaim the Block, or the Northstar Health Collective. offer solidarity to black people, and the struggle for liberation, especially if you're in the US. fight for racial justice and the end of police brutality. 
> 
> thank you again y'all! I hope you have a great rest of your week. thank you so much for your support of this fic, and please consider donating to the orgs listed above. all my love.


	4. Learning to Love the Horizon

Anakin stared out the viewport of the shuttle, at the desolate sandy planet that spread out beneath the ship. The yellow, hazy hue of the world below was peppered here and there by brown, mud red, and grey colors, representing the rock formations and settlements that were scattered on its surface. Although he hadn’t been to Tatooine in over a decade now, Anakin would recognize the planet anywhere- the shining twin suns, floating in the darkness of space, as surely as he knew his own name. Whether that was a good or bad thing, Anakin couldn’t say.

He inwardly scoffed. The last time he had been here, when Ahsoka had just become his Padawan, he had sworn never to come back to the desert planet ever again.

The desert steals everything from you, Anakin thought. That was true enough. But no one ever mentioned the fact that in turn, it dragged you back. You were tied to it, and you continued to return to it, always in some vain attempt to find what had once been lost.

“General?”

Anakin shook his head, willing those thoughts to leave him. After a short sigh to compose himself, he turned around and smiled at the man who had walked up behind him. “Rex, you know you can call me Anakin.”

The captain in question smirked, this conversation having come up many times before. “I’m afraid that’s just not in my programming, General.”

Anakin folded his arms, and dipped his head to the side, shaking his head, his own smirk matching the captain’s. He could even swear he saw Rex wink at him. However, Anakin soon decided to put a stop to the teasing and responded verbally to the clone. “So, I assume you have a status report?”

“Yes, sir, that’s just what I was here to see you about.” Rex nodded curtly, getting back to business, falling into position with his hands held at his sides. “We’ve been able to contact the Lars family and they know to expect us for a landing in thirty standard minutes.”

“Thank you, Rex,” Anakin replied, hoping his genuine thankfulness made its way through his tone. “Did they request anything from us in return?”

Rex shook his head, before pausing abruptly. “Well, actually sir, they asked if we’d had anything to eat recently. And when I said only snacks for the most part, they said to be prepared for a meal.”

It took a second for Anakin to process what Rex had told him, but no sooner than he had understood the comment, he was suddenly struck by the memory of a conversation in the apartment he and his mother had once stayed in, long ago, in the slave quarters.

_He was five years old, looking up at Shmi’s face above him at the dinner table, the well-worn and calloused skin of her hands cupping his cheek. “We always show generosity to strangers, Anakin. When we are blessed by Ar-Amu, we do good and pay it forward.”_

_“We help each other and share, right Mom?” he had piped up, having heard this wisdom a thousand times before. His small arms were pressed into the stone table, trying to capture any of its chilly, cooling properties against the heat of the suns that were still sweltering even as they began to set._

_Shmi beamed, pecking a kiss on his cheek before she plopped a bowl of mushrooms on the table. “That’s exactly right, my little Ani.”_

“Sir?” A voice broke through the daydream memory.

Anakin shook his head, shaken out of his reverie by the captain’s cautious question. “Sorry, Rex. If you still have them on the line, thank them for their generosity. I’ll wake Padme and we’ll strap in for a landing shortly.”

“Yes, sir,” Rex replied. He started to turn away, before throwing back another worried, hesitant look in Anakin’s direction. “Are you sure you’re alright, sir?”

Everybody seemed to want to ask him that lately, Anakin mused, perhaps a bit impolitely. But he knew Rex meant well, as did everyone else. He smiled, making sure it reached his eyes, and nodded his head in affirmation. “I’m just glad to finally be here, Rex.”

Rex’s eyes grew cold, and Anakin could recall that expression from the battlefield- the fire and determination in his eyes as the captain whipped out a gun or cannon, ready to gun down a clanker or any other enemy. “We _will_ find your children, General.” He said it with such certainty, his shoulders pulled tight, that Anakin almost took the statement as fact and nothing less.

Could the desert give him something back? He honestly didn’t know. But he didn’t doubt the resolve of Rex, or even Padme, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan for that matter, to make it happen.

Maybe the desert didn’t want to give him anything back, but they could take it. With their own hands. Together.

“Yes, we will,” Anakin responded, with more confidence, more courage, than he felt he had himself. However, staring into Rex’s eyes, he knew he couldn’t reply with any other answer. “I know we can.”

 _We must,_ were the unspoken words between the two. But as Rex walked away, Anakin knew he had gotten the message.

* * *

“Padme, we’re about to land on Tatooine,” Anakin urged his wife, bending down and shaking her shoulder gently in an effort to get her to wake.

The woman had fallen asleep rather unexpectedly on one of the small, white chairs that folded out from the wall of the transport. Briefly, Anakin could see her scrunch up her eyes in response, a futile attempt to try and go back to sleep. However, Padme sighed instead and groggily blinked up at her husband. Anakin had straightened a bit now, and chuckled. “You don’t have to move, angel, just be sure to strap in.”

Padme closed her eyes again for a second, a slight smirk appearing, before opening her eyes fully. “Yes, Ani,” she smiled, lifting herself halfway off the chair to pull Anakin back down to her level and plant a kiss on his cheek.

Anakin grinned, tugging his wife closer to him and kissing her in return. “I thought I was the sleepyhead in the family,” he teased.

“And I’m not the one who needs to help land the transport,” Padme chuckled in kind. “Who knows what’ll happen if we let Obi-Wan stick the landing.”

Anakin threw his head back and laughed. Obi-Wan was a decent pilot, but he hated flying. The mental image of his master grinding his teeth in nervousness and annoyance, steeling himself for a routine landing, couldn’t help but make him smile. He looked back at Padme and shrugged. “Eh, I think Ahsoka and Rex would manage to keep him in line.”

Padme rolled her eyes, and made a shooing motion with her right hand in response. She’d clearly had enough of her husband’s nonsense. “Go, Anakin. They need you.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going,” Anakin conceded, shaking his head and grinning. He started to head off toward the cockpit, but turned around to face Padme again. “When I come back here, I better find that you’ve buckled that seatbelt, you know.”

He began to walk away again before he could see her reply, but Anakin could sense Padme bite her lip and shake her head, before giving an exasperated huff and buckling the seatbelt he had just mentioned. Anakin beamed. His work was done.

Well, not quite. There was still a landing to make on Tatooine, after all. Anakin lengthened his strides, and made his way up to the cockpit as quickly as he could. It wouldn’t do good to leave anyone waiting. When he entered, he saw Ahsoka on his right, sitting on a small brown leather jump seat that was attached to the back of the cockpit wall, having buckled herself in for the landing already. “Hey, Snips,” he greeted her with a tiny wave.

Ahsoka had been staring intently at something on her datapad, but put the device down in her lap as soon as she heard her former Master’s voice. She smiled, giving him a tiny wave back, as a greeting. “Good to see you, Skyguy,” she quipped, her mouth tugging ever upward as Anakin prepared for another snippy comment from her, probably something having to do with Padme and his “sordid love affair” as Ahsoka so liked to call it.

Before Ahsoka could begin to tease him however, Obi-Wan had stood up and was getting out of his seat, which stood right in front of Ahsoka’s. “Ah, perfect timing,” the Jedi Master stated, as he saw Anakin enter, his eyes twinkling, as if he knew exactly what banter he was stopping in its tracks. “I was planning to go back and sit with Padme, unless you think I’ll provide any further help by staying here.”

Anakin shook his head, now back to business, all thoughts of teasing gone. “You should be good, Obi-Wan. I know Padme would enjoy your company.” He paused. “Let her know that we should be making a landing in ten or fifteen standard minutes.”

“Very well,” Obi-Wan bowed in response, his brown robes swishing behind him as he took his leave, bowing slightly at Ahsoka as well before heading out.

After he watched his Master disappear out the doorway entirely, Anakin made his way into Obi-Wan’s former seat to sit to Rex’s right. “Are we all ready?” he made sure to ask the man, glancing back at Ahsoka to make sure she was ready to go. She grinned, and gave him a thumbs up.

Anakin turned back to Rex. Rex, in return, nodded sharply in his direction, his eyes then facing forward as he scanned the view in front of him. “Yes, sir. We are geared to make our approach, and I have confirmation that we have men in the skies if we require any assistance on the operation.”

Anakin looked up and right at the comment, at the massive Star Destroyer that hung above the atmosphere of the planet outside the viewport, suspended in the darkness of space as if it had always been there, as implacable as one of the moons of Tatooine. He glanced back at Rex then, nodding in appreciation. “I’ll be sure to thank the whole 501st when we’re done with this.”

“We’re happy to, of course,” Rex said, his tone polite, yet dismissive, as if towing along a battle cruiser filled with hundreds of clone troopers was a common courtesy that anyone would provide.

Anakin nodded again, his hands reaching out now for the controls of the shuttle. “Well,” he said. “Let’s get going.”

He barely registered Rex’s nod in affirmation, or even his own hands on the buttons and joystick however, as Tatooine grew closer and closer to them. It was growing bigger by the second, looming large and imposing. Anakin’s heart started to swirl at the sight of it, an oppressive force like the way wind whipped around you when a sandstorm was on its way.

As fire burned at the nose and on each side of the transport as they entered the atmosphere, Anakin could practically taste sand on his tongue. He felt it between his palms, coarse, grainy, and rough.

As they dipped forward through the small and wispy clouds, out of space and towards the surface of the planet, Anakin braced himself for the landing. He couldn’t deny it now.

They’d be on Tatooine soon.

* * *

“I know it’s not much, but I hope you enjoy,” a kind, soft, and yet firm voice said to his right.

Anakin had zoned out for a brief second, but the noise made him focus on the action around him. Beru, his stepbrother’s wife, had two brown clay bowls in her hands, and was setting them down on the unassuming dining room table made out of a greyish stone. When Anakin looked in the other direction, he saw Padme pull back a chair to sit next to him. At the end of the table, he could see his stepbrother, Owen, set another clay bowl down on the tabletop, and Anakin noticed that Obi-Wan and Rex were also approaching the table to take their seats. A short while later, Anakin saw Beru help Ahsoka move another chair, this one a cheap plastic, towards the dining room from the outdoor courtyard.

The suns were just about to set, but the heat was still stifling. Almost as soon as they had arrived on the planet, Beru had generously taken Anakin’s outer robes and hung them inside some of the colder, inner rooms of the small homestead. However, even without his robes, Anakin couldn’t help but sweat- couldn’t help, either, but to stare at the sand outside, the azure blue of the cloudless desert sky that surrounded the Lars moisture farm from all sides.

He couldn’t decide if it felt like a prison, or the endless sky was the most freeing thing he had ever known.

He was shaken from his reverie once again by the sound of Padme replying to Beru. As his gaze focused back on his wife, he saw that she was serving herself from one of the bowls on the table, plopping mushrooms and a thick bantha stew onto her plate. The Nubian woman was smiling at Beru gratefully. “It’s wonderful, Beru, thank you so much for going through all the trouble. We were starving.”

“It was nothing,” Beru replied, waving her hand dismissively as she went to go sit by her husband, finally getting to rest from her work. “We are honored to have you here.” She then hesitated for a second, as if weighing the pros and cons of continuing with her next comment. However, she eventually chose to say it. “Owen and I are so sorry to hear about your children. We will help you, however we can, to free them.”

Anakin almost sheepishly ducked his head at her apology, but forced himself to keep his eyes locked on Beru. The Lars _had_ been extremely kind to them. They hadn’t heard from them in years- the last contact they had ever had with them, in fact, had been a little over seven years ago, when the couple had commed and offered their condolences on the loss of Luke and Leia. Anakin remembered the surprise he had felt when they called. The dramatic news, he had realized, was so monumental it had made its way even to the Outer Rim.

Especially considering the events of a little over a decade ago, the last time he and Padme were here, it was amazing, and generous on the Lars’ part, to invite them into their home. Where he had had his… outburst. His heart suddenly ached, then, at the thought of his mother, dying in his arms, and bringing her back to this very house for burial. The pain, the grief, the _shame_ of the past, of killing every Tusken Raider, overflowing into the present, threatened to drown him like a crashing wave. However, he willed it back, choosing to study the Tatooinian woman’s features instead.

She had aged, clearly, since he had been here last, and her sun-weathered face reflected that. Tiny wrinkles were starting to appear around her eyes, as well as the corners of her mouth. Her dirty blonde hair was no longer tied up behind her head, as he had seen her last, but was cut just a little below her shoulders. Her soft smile, however, and warm, blue eyes- that almost reflected the Tatooine sky, Anakin mused- hadn’t changed at all. So many things here, really, hadn’t, he realized. The dining room table was still placed in the exact same spot where he and Padme had eaten at their first visit to the homestead. The Lars home was still decorated plainly, with only the occasional colorful clay plate and small, woven tapestry displayed on the whitewashed earthen walls. Beru and Owen still wore plain, beige-colored robes, typical of moisture farmers. A few succulents and other green, leafy plants were kept watered with hydroponics systems outside in the courtyard, just as they had been a decade before.

So much had changed, and yet none of it had.

Anakin’s gaze switched back to look at Padme, then, and he placed a sturdy, supportive hand on her shoulder when he saw her eyes fill with tears. “Thank you, very much. You have no idea how much that means to us.”

He couldn’t bring himself to speak, much less look at Beru or Owen, but Anakin nodded his head in affirmation at her comment, his eyes on the floor, before leaning his head to rest in the crook of Padme’s shoulder.

“Yes, we appreciate your hospitality, Owen, Beru. Thank you for allowing us to stay in your home,” Obi-Wan began, stroking his beard in his classic contemplative move. Anakin noticed that he had already finished everything on his plate, and had polished off the glass of blue milk that had been served alongside their dinner as well. “However, I hate to say that we should be further developing our plans, sooner than later, on how we are going to rescue the slaves from Jabba’s Palace.”

Owen spoke up then, the first time Anakin had heard him speak in anything other than low mutters and clipped, short sentences all evening. “As we said earlier, Beru and I help out on the Freedom Trail as much as we can, as guides, sometimes, but mostly surgeons. We are happy to go over your plans with you.”

“Anakin’s gotten his old friend Kitster involved as well. He’s also been a guide on the Trail,” Padme said, offering her own tidbit to the conversation. “He’ll be in Mos Eisley tomorrow, ready to help.”

Everyone around the table nodded and hummed in response to this new information, except for Ahsoka and himself, Anakin realized. And, in typical Ahsoka fashion, she wasn’t quiet for long. Her face was scrunched up in confusion, her eyebrow markings furrowing, as her voice broke through the chatter. “Sorry, you said you were surgeons- for what, exactly?”

Owen, much like Beru, had aged in a decade. His brown hair was starting to show streaks of grey, and wrinkles were appearing on his cheeks and underneath his eyes, Anakin noticed. His eyes were hard as he responded to Ahsoka. “All slaves have a transmitter chip placed somewhere inside their bodies. If a slave moves outside a certain radius, the transmitter is programmed to detonate and explode, and the slave along with it. That’s why it’s imperative to remove the transmitters as soon as possible, in surgery.” He paused. “I’ve met a person or two that’s escaped from Jabba out here on the Trail. If we can’t find and destroy the transmitter controls, the children should be able to make it safely out here, at least. They wouldn’t be far away enough to trigger it. I know some of them are tasked to go out to Anchorhead and get supplies, after all.”

Anakin felt himself tense. His hands were gripped so tightly on the table, squeezing it as hard as he could, that he thought he might be able to splatter the stone like it was a shuura fruit between his hands. He didn’t want to study the people around him, but he could feel their pity through the Force- he could see Padme’s worried features out of the corner of his eye, Ashoka’s horrified expression as she stared at him across the table, Obi-Wan’s discomfort as his hands fidgeted and his fingers wedged themselves together, Rex, staring down at the ground, Beru, and to a lesser extent, Owen’s, sympathy for not only his family, but for him, as a former slave. For his _children_ , who might still be enslaved.

The idea that Luke and Leia, _his babies_ , who had been born free, whose _light_ and _goodness_ in the Force had shaken Anakin to his very core when he held them in his arms for the first time, had metal under their skin, a detonator to blow them to smithereens without a second thought or remorse from their master… Anakin couldn’t even begin to wrap his mind around it.

That wave of grief and pain in his mind threatened to crash to shore again, a tsunami wiping away every good thing he had managed to find and hold on to in this world.

His throat was dry, burning, even. It felt like sand was caught in it. Everything felt like sand here. Anakin picked up the glass of blue milk that Beru had poured for him earlier, and downed it, hoping it would soothe the pain. It didn’t work. Still, Ahsoka, Padme, Owen, Beru, and now even Rex and Obi-Wan were gawking at him, reacting to the fact that he was demonstrably upset. Before he knew what he was doing, Anakin had stood up, backed away from the table, and scooted his chair in. His food was left untouched on his plate- he hadn’t been able to eat a bite.

“Excuse me,” he bit through clenched teeth as he left the dining room to enter the inner courtyard of the Lars homestead. Two words, no explanation- even to his wife and closest friends. He felt like a puppet on a string, propelled by some other person, as he left the house and walked up the whitewashed steps up to flatness sand of the desert, the desert that stretched out to the limit of the horizon and had no end in sight.

The suns were visibly setting in the sky now- it was turning a soft purple, rather than the deep blue it had been only an hour before. Anakin looked out on the horizon at the twin suns, a pale yellow and blood orange that stood in contrast to the purple, as he hoisted himself up a small sand dune outside of the Lars’ rounded dome entrance of their homestead. He stared at the suns for a while, trying not to think much of anything at all. He wasn’t sure what he’d do when the dam, holding back the storm, finally broke.

Something, though, peeking up from some sand a little far off from the sand dune, caught his attention when he lost focus of the suns. Anakin’s heart stuttered to a stop in his chest, as he realized what it must be.

He didn’t necessarily want to visit his mother’s grave. He didn’t want to be reminded of his failure to save her, his unmerciful slaughter, the fact that Shmi was no longer with him. However, at the same time, he knew it was something he was obligated to do.

The desert never forgot, and neither could he. No matter how much he wished he could, sometimes.

The sand crunched underneath his sandals as he made his way over to the sandblasted headstone. It was as unremarkable as he remembered it- just a rectangular stone standing tall amidst the sand around it. Anakin saw, now, that another similar grave had been erected near Shmi’s own, likely the headstone of Cliegg Lars, her husband.

Anakin approached the grave, and with a sigh, cupped his hand around the top of it. He opened his mouth, and was about to speak, when he noticed a brown ceramic bowl, much like the ones Beru had used to just serve him food, sitting on the sand near Cliegg’s grave. Anakin’s chest squeezed painfully. All this time, he had been wondering what to do, how to address his mother, when the answer had been there in front of him all along.

He made his way to the bowl then, and scooped it up. He looked around, before spotting a moisture vaporator that stood a short walk away from the headstones. Quickly, he hurried to the vaporator.

When he got there, he bent down, placing the bowl on the ground and unscrewing part of the machine at its base. When he had managed to unscrew the bolt, a steady stream of water began to pour out of the moisture vaporator. Anakin watched the water fill the bowl. When it was just about to overflow, he moved the bowl away and picked up the bolt that he had discarded on the ground, immediately screwing it back on the machine.

Anakin walked back to his mother’s grave in a daze, scurrying as fast as he could across the sand while making sure not to spill a single drop of the water that he had poured into the bowl. When he found himself standing in front of the headstone again, he kneeled, again being very careful not to let anything flow out of the bowl, and closed his eyes.

A thank offering had to be made, and though he stumbled over the words at first, Anakin found that the more he recited the prayer, the better he remembered it, the Amatakka springing from his tongue. When he had finished, he placed a hand over his heart, feeling the rise and fall of his chest, the breath of life, and the distant thud of his heart. Then, the most important part of the ritual, by far. Anakin picked up the brown, clay bowl, and, scooting closer to Shmi’s headstone, poured it into the sand.

The water sunk into the sand, almost immediately. Anakin almost laughed. The desert was still greedy, for anything it could possibly have.

When the last of the water disappeared beneath the ground, Anakin locked his gaze on his mother’s grave. Taking a shuddering breath, he made himself speak, although the words almost lodged themselves in his throat, refusing to come out. “I miss you, Mom.” He sighed again. “I love you so much.”

He could’ve said more. He should’ve said more. He should’ve told Shmi about all the adventures he had gone on. All the planets he had seen. About Padme, and Ahsoka, and Rex, Obi-Wan. He should’ve at least told her about the twins, how beautiful her grandchildren were, how much she would have loved them. But Anakin couldn’t will the words to come. He just sat there, on his knees.

Suddenly, he tensed, at the sound of boots making imprints in the sand. Whirling around, he was surprised to see Beru Lars, of all people, behind him.

Beru didn’t ask any questions- she merely joined Anakin at his side, looking at him as she also kneeled in front of Shmi’s headstone. After a moment of silence between them, she decided to speak. “When you left, I thought I mind find you out here.”

Anakin faced her. “I used some of your water from the vaporators,” he admitted. He knew how precious of a resource it was. How every drop mattered. “I had to- “ he attempted to explain himself- only to be stopped by the weathered palm of Beru’s hand, held in a gesture for him to stop.

“A thank offering. I understand,” she said, and Anakin’s eyes widened. In explanation, she continued. “Your mother offered many.”

Anakin bowed his head, picturing his mother offering thanksgiving right where he now stood, for years after his departure from Tatooine. Something in him, too, was a little jealous that Beru, of all people, had been able to live with his mother for so long- almost longer than Shmi had ever been with him.

“Have I told you, that I was a slave once?” Beru’s quiet admission jolted him from that train of thought.

Anakin furrowed his eyebrows. He realized how little he actually knew about Beru. Shaking his head, he found himself finally ready to respond. “No, you haven’t.”

Beru nodded sharply, moving her head to study the grave in front of her as she began to speak again. “I was born one. Until I was fifteen, I worked as a farmhand on many homesteads all over Tatooine.” She scoffed a little, emitting a tiny laugh. “I was bought by Cliegg to be a laborer on the farm, much as your mother was. I was sure, then, that it would just be another temporary service.” Beru smiled then, her eyes soft. “But they freed me. And I’ve been here since.”

She turned to face Anakin, afterwards. “I was afraid of everything, for a while,” she started, shaking her head and shrugging. “I didn’t know what to do. I felt misunderstood. I couldn’t delve into the mindset of a freed person very easily. I was afraid of punishment. I was afraid of being a burden. I was afraid of making any sort of mistake.”

Anakin nodded in return. He remembered feeling the same. His nine-year-old voice, suddenly, echoed in his head. _Master Qui-Gon, I don’t want to be a problem._

Beru nodded sharply again, her pointer finger dragging in the sand, making small spirals as she studied the ground. Her serious expression, though, soon melted into a beaming grin that lightened her features. “Shmi, though- she helped me through it all. She knew exactly what I had gone through. She knew how to cope, to deal with her painful memories. Most importantly, she knew how to love a person. Wholly. Deliberately. Completely.”

The woman looked back up at Anakin. “It won’t be easy, but you must do the same, Anakin, if your children are truly slaves. You will need to remember your past. You will need to help them, based on what you have experienced.” Beru moved out of the kneeling position, then, and stood up to her full height. Small, but with an authoritative air. Anakin moved to follow her, standing up as well. “And most importantly, you must love them. Wholly. Deliberately. And completely,” Beru continued. She paused, briefly. “That is how you make others feel safe. That is how you let them know they are protected.” Beru locked eyes with Anakin, then, again. Anakin stood at attention. He knew what that stare meant- he had seen it in many elderly Grandmothers back in the slave quarters. It meant he had to listen, and listen closely to the tale at hand. “You must love them, Anakin. You must remind them that they are home with you in your arms.”

Although he hesitated for a second, Anakin knew he had to respond. He knew the enormity of his promise, but he didn’t hesitate. He replied to the woman in Amatakka, for there was no other language that could capture the magnitude of his statement. “I promise, Beru Whitesun Lars, that I will love my children, and seek to understand and support them in any way I can.”

Beru smiled in response, bowing her head in recognition of his promise, as all Amavikkan knew to do. “I have no doubts that you will, Anakin Skywalker,” she replied in the same language.

The air around them was still hot, but Anakin could now sense the sizzling of another energy. Of a promise that he had to uphold, that he had committed to in front of the desert, in front of Ar-Amu, and all her prophets and children.

It wouldn’t be a simple task, he knew. But he would do anything for Luke, and anything for Leia.

After their conversation, Beru had taken her leave, and Anakin watched as she shuffled back to the dome of the homestead, down the steps that led further into the house.

When she had disappeared from sight, Anakin turned back to the horizon he had been watching earlier. It was darker, now, and the light purple had transitioned into a darker blue and purple mix. He could see that the three moons were rising in the sky as well, soon to take over the duty of light-giving from the twin suns. He stood there, just watching the scenery for a while, as a hopeful feeling started to bloom in his chest. At the thought, especially, of the twins in his arms.

He heard the crunch of sand underneath shoes again, and smiled as he saw Padme come. She walked up to him, smiling in return, and stood at his side. She gazed out at the setting suns, which Anakin had been admiring moments earlier. “It really does look beautiful tonight.”

Anakin nodded, and when he did so, Padme twisted to look at him again. “We were worried about you, you know. You left so suddenly.”

Anakin turned Padme’s way and shrugged, a sigh escaping his lips. He couldn’t help but feel a little bit of guilt. “I’m sorry, Padme, but I just couldn’t hear anyone talk about… the twins like that.” He shuddered.

Padme’s hand was almost immediately on his shoulder, gripping it for support. Slowly, her hand made its way down his back, where she started to rub in small circles. “I understand, Anakin. Again, you don’t need to apologize to me about anything like this.”

Her husband deflated underneath her hand. “I know. I just…” He took a deep breath. “I can’t stop thinking about them. I can’t help but worry about them.” Anakin looked at Padme. “I just want them here with us. I want to let them know how much they are loved.”

Padme removed her hand from his back, but smiled at him in return. “I know, Ani. I want nothing more than for Luke and Leia to be in our arms.”

Anakin moved behind his wife then, encircling his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder from behind. For a moment, they were silent, merely watching the suns dip below the horizon, and the moons seizing their place. However, after a minute, Anakin spoke up. “You know,” he murmured. “If they are… alive… they’re likely not named Luke and Leia anymore.”

He could sense Padme briefly tense underneath his chin and between his arms. He couldn’t help but flinch at his statement as well. It had taken months for Padme and him to decide what they were going to name the twins. He had explained to her, after all, the importance of Amavikkan names, of finding the name of your true self. It had taken ages for them to pick what names they liked best, what names had just felt right.

However, after a pause, Padme replied. “We’ll love them no matter what their names are.”

Anakin found that he couldn’t refute that. Beru’s voice, in fact, echoed in his ears.

Love them.

Wholly.

Deliberately.

Completely.

He heard his mom’s voice too.

_“Love others, Ani. With all you have,” Shmi had said once, as she wrapped the wounds of a Grandmother who had been beaten by her Depur late in the night, her face only partially visible in the light of a candle and the moons that hung outside the window of their apartment in the slave quarters. “Help them however you can.”_

They stood like that for a while, watching the suns as they eventually faded from view, only unfurling from each other’s embrace when Anakin heard the sound of boots clomping through the sand again.

“It’s going to be a long night,” Obi-Wan said, after he had greeted Anakin and Padme, letting them know about some of the basic plans that Owen, Beru, Rex, Ahsoka, and him had come up with in their absence.

Anakin clapped Obi-Wan on the shoulder as they walked back to the Lars homestead. “We’ll do it together, Obi-Wan. We’ll help each other however we can.”

He beamed at the smile that tugged at his Master’s mouth, where it had been frozen in a frown just moments earlier. He grinned at Padme, who shook her head at his antics.

And they walked into the house, ready to face whatever the morning held in store for them, together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, hello there.
> 
> so... the world kind of developed into a good kind of chaos since my last update. with the BLM movement, my internship being more demanding than expected, and a summer class now on top of my internship, I've been busier than I thought I would be. however, I still managed to write this chapter! I just might be updating more biweekly than weekly now, so I hope y'all bear with me on that front.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter! it's a bit filler, but there were important things I wanted to introduce here, too- namely Anakin's relationship with Beru and Shmi, as well as Tatooine as a whole. it was also a chance to show the whole gang all together! so I hope y'all liked that.
> 
> Beru being a slave is not canon, by the way, but my own personal headcanon. I just love all the implications of that in canon and elsewhere, especially in terms of her raising Luke. that will definitely be an important factor in this story!
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER: THE TWINS WILL BE FOUND! I am literally so excited to write this- it's been one of the chapters I've most been looking forward to writing in this fic. I will try to not leave anyone hanging, and get that out as soon as possible!
> 
> also, I hope everyone is doing what they can to support the Black Lives Matter movement. it does not escape me that I am writing about slavery when carceral punishment is such an ingrained thing in America's policing and prison industrial complex. as a disabled and chronically ill person at risk for COVID-19, I haven't been able to get out and protest, but there are still so many things you can do if protesting is not possible for you- there's bail funds to donate to, petitions to sign, phone numbers to call, emails to send- even the act of simply reading, watching, and listening to works about police brutality and other forms of racial injustice in the United States, or wherever you are from, are extremely important. I've found https://linktr.ee/acab a great resource, so if you're looking for somewhere to start, I'd recommend going there. we can all do our part to support Black lives.
> 
> thank you again for all of the love on this fic- your kudos, likes, comments, and more. they mean the world to me, and I am still so happy to see that people are enjoying this story. I appreciate it more than you know.
> 
> stay safe, happy, and well!


	5. Hope, Found

_Sand under his feet._

_A gentle breeze floating past._

_The desert stretched out for thousands of miles, and resting above it was the night, full of so many stars Lukka couldn’t count them._

_His hand was firmly grasped in Leila’s, as they walked through the desert together._

_Lukka didn’t know where he was going, but that didn’t matter._

_He just knew he was free._

* * *

When Lukka woke up, he wasn’t surprised to find Leila hovering over him, her hands wrapped around his arms. He was fisting the covers of his blanket, the arms in question smushed into the sandy ground to try to capture any of its coldness against the heat of the suns that were just beginning to rise. His sister looked as if she was just about to shake him awake, but the twins hardly ever needed gestures like that to wake up when the other one needed them. They just knew, as implacably as they knew their names, when they were awake, how they were doing, and what they were thinking and feeling.

“You dreamed about the desert, didn’t you?” Leila rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, holding a hand out for her brother to sit up and throw off his blanket to talk to her at eye-level. “You saw all the stars.”

Lukka nodded, numbly, basking for however long he could in the feeling of freedom, of _hope_ , that he had experienced in their dream of the desert. However, to his surprise, the emotion did not float out of his grasp like it usually did, as sand fell from your palm at the slightest breeze. It stayed with him, wrapped itself like a blanket around him, and hovered in the air. It permeated the entire basement, and Lukka could’ve sworn the whole desert was alive.

Leila paused and smiled into the distance, moving her gaze away from him for a second, as if she had felt it too. She came back though, from her reverie, to stare at Lukka. “So, you saw _them_ too?”

“Yes,” Lukka replied, because how could he forget? He couldn’t overlook the people who had walked with him on the Freedom Trail more than he could the limitless expanse of the desert.

Leila was bouncing again, a beaming smile stretched across her face. “That man with Ekkreth on his shoulder was there again.”

Just like his sister, Lukka couldn’t help but smile at the thought of the man with golden hair, the fiery red and grey-colored bird sitting on his shoulder just as he had appeared to him in his dreams a couple of nights ago. However, although the human man wasn’t the only person present on their dream journey through the desert, he hadn’t recognized anyone else. Maybe Leila would. “Who do you think the other ones were, though?”

Leila bit her lip as she frowned in thought, clearly thinking about what she had seen in the vision. She was always better at remembering their dreams anyways, recalling colors and shapes and faces and names better than Lukka ever could.

“Well, there was a Jedi,” Leila finally responded. “The auburn-haired guy. He held a blue lightsaber in his hand, and only Jedis have lightsabers.” She paused. “Maybe the rest of them were too.”

Lukka felt like he could refute that one. “The woman though, with the dark curly brown hair. She had a blaster. Why would a Jedi need a blaster?”

His sister huffed, but nodded and conceded the point. “True. And the guy- the almost-bald one with short yellow hair. He seemed more like a soldier.”

Lukka suddenly sucked in a breath, as he remembered something from the dream that Leila had not yet. “The holster- at the man with Ekkreth’s side- I think that’s the holster of a lightsaber!”

“So, he’s a Jedi!” Leila caught on quickly to the point her brother was making. She grinned at him again. “I bet the Togruta woman is too. I don’t remember her having any holsters, but she walks the way that Jedi do. Their heads held up high.”

“I bet you’re right, Leila,” Lukka breathed. He could picture the woman in his mind again, her blue and white striped montrals swaying a bit in the wind, the narrowed look of her eyes, her head held proud against the howl of the desert, as if she knew her place in the world and knew just as well that she could never be swayed from it.

“Three JEDI, Lukka!” Leila had stood to her full height now, and was jumping up and down as quietly as she should. He almost laughed at the sight. Sometimes, his sister was just so filled with pent-up energy. “And they’re coming to save us!” She stopped bouncing, then, and leaned forward to embrace her brother, who had had started to stand up as well.

However, her excited shout had just spiked enough in volume that it woke up several of the children sleeping near them. “Shh! Some of us are still trying to get some sleep, you know!” came the disgruntled cry of a teenage Rodian girl who shared their quarters. “The first sun just came up.”

“Thi, you should get up,” Leila said, turning towards the girl, beaming. “We’re going to be freed today!”

If the twins had bothered to linger and judge Thi’s reaction, they would have witnessed the Rodian give a soft sigh and a slight roll of her eyes before she rolled over again and went back to sleep, thinking nothing of the weird seven-year-old twins and their often scarily accurate, but also commonly silly dreams. The brother and sister in question, though, never paused to look, as they quickly, and as quietly as possible, picked up their pillows and blankets to return them to their resting place during the day in the corner of the room, careful not to wake Grandmother and any of the other children. With luck, it would be the last time they ever did so. Whispering amongst themselves, the only thought that crossed their mind was the warmth of the sands in the desert and the suns in the sky, as well as the moons and stars that hung in the night sky above them as they walked through the desert to freedom in their shared dream.

The small, but growing, sensation of hope.

A fantasy, finally about to come true.

* * *

Anakin stared up at the blue sky, towards the suns that now hung directly above him, seeming like nothing but two balls of pure, unadulterated light.

Also, he realized, there was sand in his boots.

And Anakin absolutely hated _that_.

“Remind me why I agreed to stay out in the desert,” Anakin growled, shaking his pant legs to get the grains out.

Padme narrowed her eyes at him. She didn’t say anything, but Anakin could guess from her expression.

_You know why._

Instead, she paused and said something different. “Shouldn’t you be focusing a little bit more, Ani, on, I don’t know, rescuing our children?”

Anakin sighed, stopping his boot-shaking. He moved closer to join Padme, making sure to tread softly through the sand so as not to alert anyone nearby. His wife was perched at the edge of a dune, looking from behind it at the large gateway arch, sealed with stone, that was the main entrance to Jabba’s Palace. She turned back at him, then, sighing, already ready to apologize. “I’m sorry. I’m just anxious.”

The man shrugged. “As you should be, Padme. As I am.” He sighed similarly as she had, moments earlier. “But Rex, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka will be fine. And they just entered ten minutes ago.” He reached out a hand to his wife’s shoulder, and caressed it gently, Padme leaning a bit into the touch. “They haven’t been gone long enough for us to worry about them.” He stopped rubbing her shoulder then, and softly turned her to face him. “And we’ll know if they’re successful, obviously, alright?”

“Alright,” Padme replied, taking a deep breath at her husband’s words. She hesitated for a second, but then looked back at Anakin, who stood to her right. “I know this is hard for you, Ani. But you’re doing such a good job.”

He clenched his teeth a little at the statement, his mechanical arm squeezing into a fist imperceptibly. He knew Padme meant well, but it had taken a lot of resolve to stay behind while Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Rex engaged in the true rescue mission. “Yeah, well, I just wish I was in there.”

“We talked about this,” his wife said, folding her arms. Probably an unconscious movement, Anakin knew, but he couldn’t help but brace himself for an argument like they usually had when Padme reacted in such a manner. “It’s best for you to remain out here.”

Anakin’s heart panged painfully. The worst part of Padme’s statement was that she was completely right. His chest hurt, throbbing inside of him in a persistent ache, at the thought of the Invisible Hand. The senatorial office of Chancellor Palpatine. The massacre of the Tusken Raiders. All his previous failures.

_The anger, the Dark, that rose in him as he clambered through the hallways of Polis Massa, the white walls whizzing past him. The fire that burned through him, his teeth barred, lightsaber sheathed, as the pale human man he was pursuing, a man with jet black, coarse hair, tossed in a ponytail behind his back, darted through the corridors of the medical facility. Following the bright Force signatures of his children in Gis Sangor’s arms, the twins squalling and screaming ever since they had been ripped from their mother’s arms only moments before-_

He willed himself to come back from that.

Because even though he wanted nothing more than to rescue his children himself, to be the first to see their precious faces- even though he craved to slice through the flesh of the slaver scum that had sentenced his children to captivity and servitude- he did not want to succumb to the Dark Side that had so easily enveloped him in the past even more. He didn’t want to cave to his base extinct, his anger and frustration and _despair_. He hated the way those emotions festered inside of him, how often they tore him to pieces.

But most of all, he didn’t want to scare his children.

He didn’t want them to be afraid of him- to think that he was just another vengeful, merciless Depur, bent on punishing all those who didn’t obey him.

That was why Anakin had agreed to wait outside of the palace with Padme, watching and waiting for their friends to escort the slaves outside of Jabba’s Palace, and to capture the slavers that would surely come out before them, panicked and confused, perhaps pleading for their life.

Anakin smirked, taking some satisfaction in the scene that was sure to come. At least he’d have that.

And suddenly, just as soon as he’d thought of it, the terrified shouts and squalls of Jabba’s entourage burst forth from the palace.

“I think that’s our cue, angel,” Anakin shouted to his wife, his lightsaber already lit.

Padme had a blaster in hand, raring to go as well. “Catch up to me if you can,” she inclined her head as she ran forward.

And Anakin laughed, running behind his wife, looking up briefly before he ran to the doors at the towering spire of the castle that towered over the desert. A warmth began enveloping him, not from the suns above him, or the lick of flames, but of hope, of bringing freedom.

The thought of embracing his children, feeling their Force signatures again as clearly as he now felt the suns in the sky, propelled him forward, across the sand, toward the light.

* * *

Lukka was walking back from the water troughs when he stopped dead in his tracks. The water that he had cupped in his hands, which he was about to bring to Leila, slipped between his fingers, but he couldn’t bring himself to care as it spilled onto the sandy ground and disappeared into the slats of the floor.

He almost stumbled and fell over his legs as he felt the air around him electrify with an energy that shone as bright as Tatooine’s suns in his mind. Where he usually only felt Leila’s soothing warmth, he suddenly felt as if he had been devoured and scorched alive by what Grandmother called a supernova- the last breath of a dying star.

However, even though the energy was hot to the touch, Lukka didn’t even break a sweat. It was warm like a fire, not the unforgiving heat of the suns.

There was something else around him too, that the boy couldn’t name. He felt like he could jump out of his skin with anticipation, but felt calm and peaceful too, as if he was one with everything in the universe and could never fade away.

But the most important feeling he felt was the distinct thought, the intrinsic optimism, that soon everything would change.

And then, he distantly heard the sound of the closing of the front gate (strange, because it was barely midday, and Jabba’s courtiers and dancers hardly ever came until the evening, visitors at the earliest coming in the mid-afternoon)- a brief two-second pause- and then, the buzzing sounds of some sort of weapon, the shot of a blaster, the energy around him twisting like a coil, as if it was about to give him an electric shock-

Lukka started running as soon as he heard the screams.

He tried desperately to stay upright and run as quickly as he could to where he knew Leila was working for the day, in Jabba’s throne room again. With his limp, it wasn’t exactly easy, and he fell to the ground, crawled, and picked himself back up more times than he could count. Distantly, as if his physical body was on another planet, he realized that the wetness he felt on his legs was blood flowing from his skinned knees. But that didn’t matter. Finding Leila did.

Lukka found her exactly where she’d been working- in the throne room. She stood rim-rod straight near Jabba’s dais and quarters, wires still in her hands, the one unmoving figure in the midst of palace guests and slaves alike thrown into a fervor, hastily gathering up belongings and immediately racing out of any exit they could find.

“Leila!” Lukka called, having to push past a wailing Toydarian and a droid or two to reach his sister. “Take my hand!” he yelled as he got near.

Leila dropped the wires and fumbled for Lukka’s hand as soon as she heard the command. “Let’s go!” she ordered, as soon as she had his hand in a tight grip- practically then tugging her brother along. Lukka smiled. He had had to briefly take charge amidst the carnage; he knew that Leila was easily overwhelmed by large crowds of moving people, as it was difficult for her to assess where everyone was and avoid whatever she could run into. However, once she had a hold of her surroundings, she was always the one in authority.

The twins knew where they needed to go- Grandmother had quizzed all the slave children on what to do if a rival crime syndicate raided the palace, or Republic clone troopers themselves rammed down the doors. Quickly and as quietly as they could, so as not to be noticed by anyone, punished by any masters, Lukka and Leila made their way back down to the quarters where they had slept since they were babies.

Grandmother herself was there to greet them at the top of the stone steps that led down to the sandy subfloor. “Hurry, twin suns,” she said. “You’re the last ones here. I must shut the door behind us.”

Leila and Lukka tried not to shudder at the fear they heard in Grandmother’s voice, the way it shook and stumbled. She had never sounded _this_ afraid before.

Leila moved to patter down the steps, but before she could drag him along, Lukka turned back towards Grandmother. He wanted to tell her all about the warmth, the anticipation he felt around him, but he knew that would take too long. Instead, he smiled softly at the elderly woman. “It’s okay, Grandmother. Ekkreth has come to free us all.”

His sister jerked him away and down the steps before he could say anything more, but the shocked, yet hopeful expression of the woman, her eyes sparkling and her mouth hanging open, was etched firmly in Lukka’s mind. He nodded; his work was done.

He knew Grandmother, of all people, would believe what he saw in his dreams.

* * *

The twins didn’t know how long they huddled behind a wooden trunk in their quarters, which had been dragged down to the floor from the upper levels above them. It was filled with a bunch of Jabba’s gold- Grandmother always said that a bribe should be on hand to appease any pirates or crime lords that might try to sell them off, after all. The sound of fleeing courtiers had faded into silence long ago, and they were now growing cramped and cranky. Leila was grumbling all the Huttese curses she had ever learned from working in the throne room under her breath, and Lukka started to find himself mumbling about how his shoulders and ankles hurt. The only good thing was that the blood on Lukka’s knees was starting to dry, and it wasn’t falling on Leila’s beige tunic anymore, soiling the already-filthy rags.

A twinge in the air though, in the warmth of the suns in their minds, alerted the children to the opening door more than the sound of it sliding ajar did. Excitedly, they looked at each other, beaming, before untangling themselves from each other, running out of their hiding place, eager to see who their saviors could be.

The Togruta woman from their dreams, and the shaved blonde head of the soldier, a real-life Republic clone soldier, at that- stood at the top of the stairs and greeted them.

“It’s them, Lukka,” Leila breathed, latching onto her brother’s arms. Lukka could feel her happiness, sure that it could outshine all of the suns in the entire galaxy. “It’s the people from our dream!”

Before he could reply, the dream woman spoke up, her kind and compassionate, yet commanding voice, echoing throughout the basement. “You can come out now. You’re safe.” The Togruta unholstered two hilts from her waist and activated the light of her weapons- Lukka and Leila looked at each other in awe as they realized their prediction in the morning was correct- this woman _was_ a Jedi! She soon began to speak again, though, stopping the twins from babbling between themselves about the fulfillment of their dreams. “My name is Ahsoka Tano, and this-“ She gestured to the clone, dressed in the recognizable white armor of a trooper, the uniform painted with blue accents and clearly colored yellow by the desert sand, however- “Is Captain Rex. Under the command of General Skywalker, and on behalf of the Republic and the Jedi Order, we are here to save you.” The Togruta smiled and extinguished her lightsabers then, pausing for a second, before continuing. “You are free!”

For a brief second, Lukka and Leila caught the eyes of Thi. The Rodian girl’s mouth gaped open as she looked at the twins, a quizzical expression on her face. “How did you know?” she whispered, leaning closer to the children, the conversation lost in the stream of kids, no longer slaves, that started to come forward from their hiding place after Ahsoka’s announcement. Grandmother herself even had come out of hiding and was beckoning them all to come closer and meet the captain and the Jedi that were coming down the steps towards the quarters below.

Lukka grinned at the sight of the other children timidly shaking the hands of Ahsoka and Rex, some of the kids even beginning to laugh and dance in the middle of the room, celebrating their newfound freedom.

“Oh, a little bird told me,” was all the twin responded, reaching out to grasp Leila’s hand and beaming at his sister as Grandmother came over to the pair, waving them over to where the clone captain and the Jedi Togruta woman were already leading some children up the steps. Lukka closed his eyes, wanting to somehow capture the moment and put it in a jar forever- he imagined what it would be like, to face the light of the suns. And he decided that what waited outside, the freedom, _the new hope_ that overflowed in his chest, like a bucket of water that could never be wasted, a stream of the liquid flowing in every direction, for everyone that needed it, for all who were thirsty and needed a drink- that had to be better than any of his best dreams had ever been.

Soon, Lukka realized with reverent awe, he wouldn’t have to imagine the stars, but would be able to see them with his own two eyes. His sister and he could count and name them all.

Looking at Leila, a similar smile etched upon her face, her eyes also closed- Lukka knew she was envisioning the same brilliant starry night.

* * *

Obi-Wan wiped the sweat from his brow and cursed under his breath. He would give anything for a chance to rest his feet, or even just to take a sip of water right now. However, the sight of Padme, Anakin, and Anakin’s friend Kitster- a dark olive-skinned man with black hair and a thick beard of the same color, a former slave like his Padawan, now a medicinal herbalist with his own shop in Mos Espa, apparently- passing out supplies to the former slaves that had congregated right in front of the gated entrance to their former master’s palace reminded him of his mission and purpose.

The Jedi Master’s heart panged in sympathy at the dazed expressions of the humans and aliens that were seated in front of the towering doorway, accepting hungrily and yet warily the necessities that Kitster had been kind enough to procure for their operation- blankets, new clothing, and rations of food and water, among other things. Obi-Wan smiled softly at the way everyone relaxed, though, when Kitster or Anakin began speaking with them. Learning that they were now in the care of other Amavikkan, people of their own kind, did a lot to instill hope and trust among the freedmen.

Besides, they needed the comfort. Most of the slaves would have to wait until dusk for more guides on the Freedom Trail to arrive to Jabba’s Palace and lead them right outside of Mos Eisley, to the edge of the radius around the city- the far edge of the universe for many of Jabba’s slaves, the last place they were allowed to wander to in safety, without fear of their transmitters being activated and getting themselves blown up. There, they would be shuttled to several small homesteads in the area, where covert surgeries would be performed. Afterward, under the dead of night and an early dawn, they would be flown to different Republic worlds, safe and finally free. The operation had to be done swiftly, however- even though it seemed that Jabba and his entourage had fled the scene early, none of the rescuers had any doubts that the crime lord and his paid bounty hunters would not hesitate to steal back what they viewed as solely the Hutt’s property, and nothing more than that.

The man shook his head, using the physical action to focus his thoughts once more. For a fleeting second, he wondered how Ahsoka and Rex were doing in the palace, as they were searching for other slaves or remaining cronies of Jabba who hadn’t escaped in time. However, after that brief moment, he gripped the instrument in his hand tighter, hoping that the movement would help center himself on his task again.

It seemed so long ago, but Obi-Wan had once been graced with some medical training. When the healers in the Temple realized that he had inherited Qui-Gon’s bad habit of avoiding healing at all cost as he began taking on missions with his Master as a Padawan, one of them took pity on him and showed him how to perform basic medical care- mostly first aid techniques that would be useful after a duel, and how to use certain common medical instruments- that way, he wouldn’t have to visit the Halls of Healing as often as he then did. That was why Kitster had recommended that Obi-Wan, out of all of them, conduct this task: using the small, rounded and white blood analyzer, he was to test the blood of all the freed children not in the care of any family members, in order to determine if their blood matched any relatives or other kin in the Republic’s database of citizens. That way, they could be reunited with their true families. Kitster had informed him, to Obi-Wan’s dismay, that more slaves than ever nowadays were sold into captivity after being kidnapped by pirates or bounty hunters and separated from their families at a young age, hence the need for the procedure.

The Jedi wouldn’t think about Luke and Leia as part of that statistic, though. He couldn’t bring himself to.

Speaking of the twins, Obi-Wan had taken the blood of around a dozen children, but none of them had come even close to looking like the children of his former Padawan, much less matching the blood samples of Anakin and Padme that had been saved in the database of Republic medical records. He wiped the blood analyzer on his pants again, doing the best he could to keep the sand off of the instrument. He was about to walk to a Twi’lek child he saw in the corner of his eye when-

He felt a spark.

Obi-Wan whipped around at the sudden touch of two blazing Force signatures, almost as warm as the two suns that baked his skin from above. To his left, his eyes landed on two very small children, each playing with and spinning a black top that stood out starkly in the yellow sand surrounding them as far as the eye could see.

One of them was a girl with greasy brown chestnut hair in soft curls, her eyes scrunched together as she intently studied her toy as it circled the sand. She was deathly pale, as if, despite inhabiting a desert world, she had lived underground her entire life. Her tunic, Obi-Wan noticed, was splattered with tiny blotches of blood.

His eyes flickered to a boy, too, sitting close by the girl’s side, wearing a similar tunic to the girl’s own. He guessed they must be siblings, both by how close they seemed to be pressed together, and the similarity in their bright Force signatures. The boy’s knees seemed to be scraped badly, and were likely the source of the blood that graced the little girl’s tunic. Obi-Wan briefly made a note to clean up the child’s wounds with some antiseptic and bandage them after he had taken his blood sample. Obi-Wan also saw that he was as white as his sister, with shaggy blonde hair that hung a little below his ears.

 _They look like a mini Anakin and Padme,_ Obi-Wan mused. And then paused- realizing the enormity of the observation.

His feet were moving towards the children before he even really decided to take such an action. As soon as he started doing so, he felt the kids’ presences reach out towards his own, before darting away again like a frightened animal after he started to probe back.

When he finally stood in front of the siblings, Obi-Wan made sure to crouch slowly, not wanting to scare them. “Hello, children. My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi,” he greeted the boy and girl, making sure his words came out softly, deciding to start off with Basic. When that elicited no response, he continued in a different language instead. “My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. May I take a prick of your blood?” He asked in Huttese, thankful for the languages he had had to learn as a Jedi youngling, as well as Anakin’s often impromptu, often crude Huttese tutorials, of course.

The children looked at each other, and the man couldn’t help but be fascinated by the strength of their mental shields. Even without formal training as Force-sensitives, the kids had almost impenetrable shields, incredibly impressive, especially at their young age.

Eventually, the brown-haired girl was the child to speak up first, her arms crossed as she answered him accusingly in Huttese. “What do you want it for?” Her scrunched, unmoving stare moved to study him instead of her toy top.

The boy, however, her brother, balked, horrified by his sister’s behavior. He turned to face her, a scolding tone in his voice, pointing to the holster of Obi-Wan’s lightsaber that was attached to the belt around his waist. “You can’t speak to a _Jedi_ like that!”

The girl huffed and looked ready to retort, but before she could reply, an elderly woman with grey hair in a tattered, patched beige dress appeared at the side of the kids and spoke in Huttese as well. “Now, young ones, you know not to refuse a kind stranger, Jedi or not. Let the man take your blood.”

The twins, Obi-Wan now guessed, glanced at each other again, and the Jedi again marveled at their mental shields. Although the children had spoken in Huttese to him, he couldn’t help but have the sneaking suspicion that they were talking in another language inside their minds.

“Children,” the elderly woman spoke up again, a warning clear in her statement.

“Yes, Grandmother,” the boy and girl dutifully replied, before turning back towards Obi-Wan. “Yes sir,” they responded in sync to him, almost in unison, in a similar fashion to how they had responded to their elder.

Obi-Wan nodded- he knew better than to push and ask anything further of the kids at the moment, still wary of the scowl that crossed the girl’s face especially. Carefully, he reached out to take the pointer finger of the boy’s right hand in his, using the tip of the analyzer to prick a tiny drop of blood from the outstretched appendage. He then leaned over to the girl, pricking her pointer finger on the left hand that she eventually offered him

It would take a few seconds to get the results, so Obi-Wan smiled at the children in anticipation of the notes he would receive. However, before he could look back down at the blood analyzer, the boy piped up and said the last thing Obi-Wan could have ever expected.

“You’re the Jedi from our dreams, you know. Well, one of them, anyway.”

The Jedi in question sucked in a breath, and was about to reply to the curious statement, when the analyzer dinged, his eyes growing wide, his heart pounding like it could escape from his rib cage, as he saw the results.

“You have your lightsaber with you, like you did in the desert. I know it lights up blue,” the boy continued, clearly mistaking Obi-Wan’s silence and hesitation for confusion, trying to explain more.

But Obi-Wan wasn’t confused at all. In fact, he was more certain than he had ever been in his life. “What are your names?” he asked hurriedly, somehow knowing the answer, but needing to hear it spoken aloud all the same.

“Lukka,” the blonde-haired boy responded first, his eyebrows furrowed. He gestured for his sister to also react to Obi-Wan’s inquiry when she faltered.

“My name is Leila,” the girl ultimately replied, though her eyes were still warily searching Obi-Wan’s. “Scales of the Mighty One.”

A joy like he had hardly ever experienced before in all his years of life blossomed in the Jedi’s chest, a grin spreading across his face. He looked at the analyzer one last time to confirm his discovery.

_Subjects, twins, are matched to the following potential parental records: Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala._

He didn’t dare let the twins out of his sight, but Obi-Wan called out to Padme and Anakin as loudly as he could, mentally nudging his former Padawan through their bond in the Force to further emphasize his statement’s urgency. “Anakin! Padme! Come quickly!”

Although their names were slightly different, there was no doubt in Obi-Wan’s mind- these were his brother’s and his wife’s long-lost children, once thought to be dead.

Luke and Leia had been found.

* * *

Anakin was deep in conversation with one of Jabba’s former dancers, explaining to her in Amatakka the plans that they had come up with with Kitster to guide the former slaves on the Freedom Trail to one of several houses outside of Mos Eisley for transmitter-removal before being moved off-world as quickly as possible. However, the man was shaken from his conversation when the frantic and- was that excited? - voice of his Master and brother in all but blood pierced his ears. The happiness that leaked from Obi-Wan’s mind all but confirmed that whatever was going on, it was extremely important for him to investigate.

In an instant, he raced over to Obi-Wan’s side, Padme right at his heels. He was about to ask his former Master what was going on, before noticing that Obi-Wan’s gaze was singularly focused on something in front of him. Moving closer, Anakin tried to get a good look at what exactly Obi-Wan could be so fixated on, so elated by.

The two children in front of Obi-Wan, though, immediately answered any and all questions he might have had.

And Anakin remembered.

_Two babies, wrapped in quilted white blankets, held in the crooks of his arms._

_The sound of Padme cooing at the children, as she rested, exhausted, on the medical examination table where she had just given birth, sweat on her brow stuck to her brown curls, still heaving in pain, but with a beaming smile plastered on her face as Anakin had never witnessed before._

_One of the twins, Leia, Anakin thought, opened her eyes and began to mewl, shaking her little fists back and forth._

_Her brother, Luke, disturbed by this sudden disruption of the peace, woke up, his deep blue eyes immediately closing shut after they opened, his tiny body, tinier than Anakin could even fathom or comprehend, beginning to flop, soon wailing in distress._

_Though at first at a loss for what to do, after a reassuring pat on Padme’s shoulder, telling her to rest back down and go to sleep for a while, the father pulled his children closer to him, bouncing them up and down to calm and soothe their cries._

_His mouth opened, and a song came out of nowhere. “Tena lights the fires; the night is coming in…”_

_In the last, in the only serene moment, in fact, the twins and he had ever had, Anakin Skywalker covered the bright Force signatures of his children with his own, bathing them in all the comfort and love he could give. He basked in the light of his twin suns, his son and daughter, Luke’s blazing heat, and Leia’s power, prowling like a Krayt waiting in the desert._

Anakin never expected to feel those presences again.

But here they were, standing in the middle of the desert.

Anakin let out a huff. A laugh. So, the desert did sometimes give its children gifts after all.

He turned to his wife then, at Padme’s shocked expression. He could see it on her face- she didn’t need the Force to know that they had finally found their children. “Anakin-?” she inquired though, to confirm. And her husband nodded quickly, a grin beginning to tug at the corners of his mouth. And before he knew it, he was running up to his babies and flung his arms around them, determined to never let go of them ever again.

Marrying Padme, finding out she was pregnant, the birth of his children- he had labeled them all as the happiest days of his life. But this- well, it couldn’t even compare, Anakin thought, just as his body began to shake. Tears flowed from his eyes, but he knew he wasn’t wasting a drop of water. He breathed in the scent of his children, who smelled like blood and baked sand on a hot day in the desert, their greasy hair toppling over his shoulders. But Anakin could care less. He latched onto them and promised again to never let them go. Their bodies were small, both of them easily fitting into his outstretched arms, and yet at the same time, the man was keenly aware of how much they had grown since they were newborns. Another laugh, crossed with a sob, escaped him, and he gripped his children tighter.

In that instant, that tiny sliver of time where all his dreams finally came true, Anakin couldn’t have felt any brighter, any lighter, than the suns of Tatooine themselves.

* * *

Leila had no clue what was happening.

First, she and Lukka had been reluctantly coaxed by Grandmother to have their blood pricked from their fingers by a strange, yet familiar man, who Lukka had recognized soon thereafter as the auburn-haired Jedi from their dream last night. They had felt his elation upon looking at the screen of the machine that had taken their blood, before he called over two humans- a young man and woman that the Jedi, Leila believed, had named Anakin and Padme.

Before she could get a good look at these new faces, however, Leila watched as the man exchanged glances with the woman, and suddenly dived out of the blue to gather them in his arms.

The man gripped them tight, Leila mused, tighter than she had ever been held by anyone before, except maybe Grandmother once or twice, after she did something clumsy or stupid and paid for it with punishment. It was the bone-crushing kind of hug of relief, Leila realized, of wanting to hold onto what you could very well lose later. Or maybe, what you had already lost before.

The woman, as well, with dark brown curls like Leila’s own, soon joined the embrace, tears streaming down her face like the man. She kept repeating phrases over and over again as she stroked Leila’s hair, salty paths marking their way down her cheeks. Leila couldn’t understand her, though, though she desperately wished she could- it seemed like all she could speak was Basic, and Leila only caught a phrase or two from her babbling, struggling to recall the meaning of the words in Amatakka.

_Safe. Home. Here now._

Leila craned her neck to see her brother. He was still wrapped up in the human man’s hug like she was, the stranger’s face nuzzled into Lukka’s shoulder, hiding the teardrops that had streaked down his face earlier. She didn’t know how, but the man felt like a sun next to her, and at the same time like a blanket draped over her to protect her from the cold in the middle of the night. She could feel his immense relief, his vibrant and effervescent joy, as he finally extricated himself from them. He sat up, still on his knees in the sand, as he wiped a tear from his eye, a stream of words flowing from his mouth in an instant. Leila frowned as she heard a bunch of Basic again, and leaned in to listen closely again for words she could understand.

However, she stopped in her tracks when the man began to speak in Amatakka.

Leila drank in his words, as if they were the only oasis of water in the desert.

 _My children,_ he said. _My children have been found._

_My children are free._

She could feel Lukka’s surprise next to her and swiveled her head to her left to meet his stare. Although they did not speak out loud, Leila nodded at the look she saw in Lukka’s eyes, her heart racing, though, at the dawning realization.

Padme- she was the curly brown-haired woman with a blaster in their dream.

And Anakin- _he who brings the rain,_ Leila thought- he was the man with Ekkreth on his shoulder, who had appeared to both her and Lukka in the wet, underground place, who had also led them through the desert on the Freedom Trail, under the watch of the stars that stood suspended in the night sky in their dreams.

He didn’t have the red-feathered bird on his shoulder, but Leila knew who he was all the same.

She would think about the fact that he had called her and her brother his children later. She had to think about it later, because the idea that this man, who had appeared with the Sky-Walker on his shoulder, like he was some mythical legend from one of Grandmother’s favorite tales- the Jedi who would soon lead them to freedom in the desert, was-

Leila caught Lukka’s gaze again, though, and hope blossomed in her chest like a new green weed sprouting up in the shade of the rocks outside the palace. It threatened to explode inside of her, in fact, when Lukka mouthed the thought she hadn’t dared to think.

 _Our parents,_ Lukka whispered. _Leila, I think these might be our parents._

This time, when Padme and Anakin leaned in again for a hug, pulling her tightly to rest in their arms, so close to their chests that Leila could feel their hearts beating, she didn’t pull away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hi, y'all!
> 
> I'm honestly exhausted, so this is going to be a short author's note, but I hope you enjoy this long-awaited chapter! I'm super excited for you all to read it! :)
> 
> I will answer two questions I feel like a lot of people might bring up:
> 
> 1) No, Ahsoka isn't ~technically~ a Jedi in this universe either, but the twins equate someone with a lightsaber as a Jedi, so that's why they refer to her as such.  
> 2) Yes, we didn't get to see Anakin go ballistic, like many of y'all might have thought would happen- and there's a good reason for that. One, I wanted to show the power of Anakin to make good choices when his support system is involved. And two, I promise, there will be other chances for this to happen. Although this fic revolves around the twins being freed, there is so much more I have planned for this story to focus on. But trust me. It will happen if you're a fan of that. 
> 
> Anyways! That's all I have for now- I might update this note as I think of more information to share. It seems like I am on a biweekly update schedule for now, but that might change in the future. I will be pretty busy for the next month as my internship ramps up, but I'm hoping to get some chapters written this weekend as well as over some of the days I have off to have a backlog of material to post if I can't find the time to write.
> 
> Thank you so much for keeping tabs on this story, and giving it kudos, comments, bookmarks, subscriptions, and more. That feedback keeps me going! All my love to y'all!
> 
> Thanks again, and a tip to remember this week: Slavery should end in all its forms, including in the 13th Amendment loophole in the United States Constitution. Defund and abolish the police, and abolish prisons!
> 
> Have a great rest of your week, everyone! Hope to post sooner than later.


	6. Light Leading the Way

Lukka had never seen so many stars in the sky. Each and every one of them was beautiful, a tiny pinprick of light that pierced holes in the dark. The stars seemed to go on forever, and he couldn’t turn his eyes away from them all. Although he had clung tightly to his memories of the stars he had seen before, he had never been able to focus on them as he now could. He’d never been in the open desert like this, where the only thing he could see for miles around was the occasional dim outlined shape of a sand dune and the stars and moons that hung above him.

Lukka realized that no dream, no hazy memory, could ever compare to this. The stars were so beautiful, and maybe, now that he was free, he could see and visit every one.

He tugged on the sleeve of Leila’s tunic when he spotted a star that seemed to shoot across the night sky. “Leila, look!” he whispered excitedly, pointing to the arc of the moving light.

Leila’s eyes widened as her puzzled and scrunched expression suddenly beamed with delight. “I see the star moving!” she exclaimed, as a short laugh escaped from her mouth.

Lukka was about to respond when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and judging by Leila’s shock that flitted through their bond, the same man had rested his arm on her shoulder as well.

“That’s not a star actually; that’s a meteor,” the man named Anakin, the man who had appeared with Ekkreth on his shoulder in their dreams, the man who had saved them, said and chuckled. He pointed back up to the light in the heavens, whose arc was just starting to disappear from view. “Stuff falls from space, and it can be dust as small as a grain of sand or as enormous as a big rock, and when it hits the atmosphere, it’s heated up, leaving behind a streak of light.”

“Wow,” Lukka couldn’t help but respond, his mouth wide open at the information. Who knew that stuff actually fell down from space that wasn’t a part of one of Grandmother’s tales!

Anakin smiled, patting both of the twins on their shoulders gently and then guiding them back to the trail the rest of the newly freed slaves were walking through the desert. “They are pretty cool. And we’ll have plenty of time to admire all the things in the sky later. But for now, it’s really important that we get to a safe place and keep moving.” The children found themselves in a crowd of people then, but more towards the back of the group now that they had been at the front of before they had stepped out of line. Anakin let go of their shoulders, which he had used to steer them back to the other people on the Freedom Trail. He crouched down briefly, to be more at Leila and Lukka’s level. “I have to go back to the front of the line, but you stay here with Padme-“ an awkward look passed over his face then, before settling into more of a composed expression. “-Your mom,” he concluded, scratching the back of his head. “We’ll be at the safehouse soon, okay?”

Both Lukka and Leila nodded softly and silently as they watched Anakin greet the brown curly-haired woman who he’d picked out of the crowd and gestured them towards her. Then, they saw the Jedi place a brief kiss on the cheek of the woman, Padme, who he’d introduced to them as his wife- and their mom, somehow- before darting away to take his place at the front of the freedmen traversing the sandy wastes of the Dune Sea.

Padme was beautiful and kind, Leila had mused to Lukka when they first started walking through the desert trail in the early evening. And Lukka couldn’t agree more. He couldn’t help but smile back as Padme beckoned them over to her side when Anakin left, a warm grin on her face. As he snuck a glance at his twin, he could see that Leila was similarly bewitched, though she nervously bit her lip as she moved closer to Padme’s side. Lukka did the same, and although he didn’t know what force propelled him to do so, also took the woman’s hand. Padme’s soft grin widened then into a beaming smile, and again, Lukka couldn’t help but smile back at her as well.

He saw Leila hadn’t done the same, and was, in fact, raising a quizzical eyebrow at his gesture as she walked a few paces behind Padme. Lukka knew that expression well, though it was usually reserved for reprimanding him for trying to play some prank on another child in their quarters, or, on days where he felt particularly bold, on Jasc Makil. Shrugging, Lukka tilted his head to his side, and held out his own right hand for her to take.

Even if Leila felt uncomfortable with taking the woman’s pale and smooth hand- which Lukka found strange, it was almost as if Padme had never worked a day of manual labor under the suns of the desert in her life- she should still have a hand to hold.

His smile reappeared when the side of Leila’s mouth lifted a little in a half-grin, and she darted forward to take his hand with her left one.

Lukka didn’t want to bother Padme with the conversation he wanted to have with his sister- it’s not like she’d be able to understand them anyways, as it seemed like she could only speak Basic, with Anakin translating her words into Amatakka whenever she tried to speak to them. And wasn’t that also weird, Lukka mused. If Anakin knew Amatakka, why didn’t Padme know how to speak it as well? Was it possible that she’d never been a slave, or, even, as her hands suggested, had never lived on Tatooine? Shaking his head as if it would help him focus, Lukka abandoned that train of thought and threw Leila a look that invited her into his mind. Leila immediately caught the feeling, more so than she did the glance, and the twins slipped easily into a discussion.

It was rare that they had the time to do this, or the privacy to do so. Grandmother had always warned them to guard their secret powers, and normally gestures and the vague feelings they could sense between each other were enough to go off of if they couldn’t speak out loud. But Lukka always cherished the feeling of his sister so close to him.

Leila started the conversation off, having caught his brief thought about Grandmother. “I miss her,” she said, and although her mouth didn’t move, her head dipped in sadness as she studied the sand they kicked up with their feet.

Lukka frowned. He did too, and the empty hole in his heart where she was definitely sat hollow in his chest. However, he spoke up. “She did tell us that we’d be safe though, with Anakin and Padme. That we should go with our parents.”

Lukka saw his twin’s eyes narrow at that statement. “How can they be our parents, Lukka? Our parents are dead,” Leila reminded him.

“I guess Grandmother just thought they were,” Lukka replied, after thinking about it for a second. “It’s not like she or we could’ve known any better.”

Leila looked up from the sand then, and back at Lukka. “But they had to know that we were gone. If they’re our parents, why didn’t they come and save us sooner?”

The boy paused, frowning himself. Though he hated to admit it, Lukka had to agree that Leila had a point.

Why had their parents just found and freed them now?

Before he could ponder that thought further though, his sister was speaking again. “I can’t believe that our dream is coming true. All of those people, who rescued us- they’re friends of Anakin and Padme.” Lukka could sense the pause in her steps for a while, as she readjusted the statement. “Of… Mom and… Dad.”

She shook her head and grimaced, as if she had eaten a bitter, rotten mushroom. Lukka could tell- if Anakin and Padme were really their father and mother, it would take a long time for Leila to get used to referring to them as such.

He couldn’t blame her.

His heart, though, raced at the thought of the two cool Jedi, as well as the clone captain, who had freed them. “The Jedi seem cool though. And the clone.”

Lukka could feel Leila’s curiosity and excitement through their minds, and he also saw the grin that lit up her face for the first time in a while since starting their conversation. “When I grow up, I want a lightsaber too! I think I want to slash through something.”

Her brother couldn’t help it- Lukka let out a great big laugh, which elicited a brief head turn from Padme, who frowned for a moment before softly grinning at the twins and then turning back to face forward.

Padme didn’t look like a slaver, or even someone who was just generally harsh, but Lukka knew that it was always best to do things in the shadows if they could be done there. As soon as he felt that Padme wouldn’t turn around again, he resumed talking to Leila, throwing a small grin her way. “I’d love to see you slash something.” He whispered, both through their bond and under his breath in a whisper.

He saw Leila chuckle before he watched her gaze refocus on the stars above them. “They kind of blend together, in this sort of blanket of light,” she said out loud, in reverent awe under her breath. “They’re beautiful.” A brief second hung between them. “Can you believe it Lukka? Our dreams came true. Ekkreth freed us.” Another pause. “We’re actually, really _free._ ”

Before Lukka could respond, the train of newly-freed slaves before them slowed and then stopped completely. Padme, and therefore Lukka and Leila, halted with them.

Lukka looked up at the stars again, letting Leila’s words wash over him. He imagined the feeling that settled in him felt like what a rain shower might feel like- cleansing, cool, and most importantly, complete.

No, he thought. Their dreams hadn’t come true. Like he had thought before, looking up at the stars- this was better than any memory, any fantasy or dream he could’ve come up with.

He and Leila weren’t slaves anymore. They were totally _free._

* * *

Anakin saw Kitster slow to a stop, and, following his lead, skidded to a halt behind him.

It was amazing how much his appearance had changed, Anakin thought, yet so much else hadn’t at all. His childhood brother was still as wide-eyed and compassionate as ever, now doing the work that Anakin had always dreamed of doing- freeing their people.

He couldn’t have been prouder of his friend.

Kitster put his hand on his beard in contemplation, and Anakin almost laughed out loud at how similar the gesture was to what Obi-Wan did sometimes. However, the man soon began to speak. “This is where we split up, I’m afraid. The Lars farm should be around twenty clicks west- there are some other surgery centers in Anchorhead that I will take the rest of the group to.” He held out his hand for Anakin to shake. “Good luck, Anakin.”

Anakin took Kitster’s hand firmly in his own. “Thank you, Kitster. I can’t thank you enough for all your help.”

Anakin smiled at the sheepish grin that his friend had plastered on his face at his comment. “I’m always happy to help you and your family, Anakin.” He nodded, holding out his hand then to motion to Rex, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan, addressing them. “If you’re still alright with it, I would love your assistance in leading the rest of these people to the safehouses. We can expect to be back at the Lars’ sometime tomorrow evening.”

Obi-Wan, Rex, and Ahsoka bobbed their heads in unison, but it was Obi-Wan who spoke up. “Yes, we are happy to help you,” he said as he straightened from his bow. “If Anakin can survive without us that is,” he quipped.

The Jedi rolled his eyes at his former Master’s statement. “Yes, Master, I’m sure I’ll survive.”

He watched as Obi-Wan approached him, Ahsoka and Rex trailing behind him. “I have no doubt,” he said, as he clapped Anakin’s shoulder and gripped it tightly. “Be safe, though, and take care of Padme. As well as your children.”

A lump was stuck in Anakin’s throat, but he found it in himself to reply eventually. “Of course, Obi-Wan.”

When the elder Jedi left, Anakin was suddenly enveloped in a tight hug. He smiled as Ahsoka pulled back from him soon thereafter. “You heard what Master Kenobi said. Stay safe, Skyguy. Even if you’re not too good at that.” She waved goodbye, joining Kitster and Obi-Wan’s side.

Rex was the last to come up to him, and he merely saluted. “Good luck, General.”

Anakin, of course, saluted back in respect. “And to you, Captain.”

He tried to hold the warmth in his chest at the salutations of his friends for as long as possible, distantly hearing Kitster address the former slaves in Amatakka and informing them that they were splitting up. He beamed as he saw Padme come towards him then, filtering out of the crowd, with Luke gripping her hand, and Leia’s hand attached to Luke’s own.

Just as they were about to reach him, Anakin turned to find Kitster by his side again. “Don’t stop, my brother,” he said, a warning in his voice that made Anakin’s limbs feel like they had been dipped in ice. “They need to have the surgeries as soon as possible. We can’t ignore the possibility that Jabba and his goons might try to use them soon.”

Anakin nodded, though his heart sank at the reminder. That was the one essential thing that they had not been able to recover at Jabba’s Palace- the slave transmitters. It was possible that they were still hidden in the palace, but it was more likely that Jabba and his entourage of courtiers, bounty hunters, and other miscellaneous employees had taken the transmitters with them when they fled.

He hated to think about it, but Kitster was right. The twins needed to have their transmitters taken out quickly. Or what he had just found might be taken from him too soon.

“Alright then,” he responded. “I’ll get them there as soon as possible.”

Kitster smiled at him again, though he was already walking away to join the group of slaves with Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Rex at the front, leading the way. “May the Force be with you, Anakin,” he called over his shoulder.

“And with you,” Anakin found himself whispering under his breath, his mouth bending upward again as he saw his wife and children approach his side.

Before he told them where they were headed, and started marching to the Lars’ homestead, Anakin felt a tug of the Force to look at the stars. He grinned.

They were beautiful, pinpricks of light in an otherwise dark world. And they lit the way forward, like a blanket of brightness in an otherwise barren, sandy desert.

* * *

When they arrived at the Lars’, there was no time for introductions. As he approached with Padme and the twins, Anakin watched distant figures of a man and woman, Owen and Beru, appear outside the dome of their homestead. When they were close enough to just make out their faces, Anakin could see that Beru was holding a small lantern with a flickering orange flame inside. Before he could speak, however, the woman put a finger in front of her lips, signaling that he should stay quiet. She then pointed in the direction her husband had started walking with her other hand, changing the motion afterward to beckon them forward.

Anakin frowned. They were heading in a direction where he could’ve sworn there were no buildings around, not even a moisture vaporator. However, a little way off from the house, he watched in fascination as Owen beat his booted feet on what looked like a normal sand dune. After the man gave a small huff, he motioned for his wife to come over, and she handed over what looked like a small key.

As Owen took the key and seemed to jam it into the sand, Beru straightened and smiled at the family that had followed her. “This is our secret surgery center. We’ve been doing this for years now. We can’t often leave the farm to be Guides, but at least we have this to offer.”

Anakin nodded numbly, and although he knew it was best not to make any noise, lest they be heard, he made a note to profusely thank Beru and Owen later for their service.

Finally, Owen stopped fiddling with the key and, seemingly out of nowhere, opened two wooden boards in opposite directions of each other. He straightened too, like Beru had done earlier. “There’s a short ladder you’ll have to climb down, but this is the entrance.”

Nodding again in understanding, Anakin beckoned Padme and their children towards the couple. Padme smiled softly before she let go of Luke’s hand and lowered herself into the opening, grabbing the rungs of the ladder. Luke, however, and Leia as well, froze.

Anakin stepped over to them. “It’s okay,” he said, as calmly and soothingly as he could. “You’re safe here. You just need to climb down the ladder, and then Owen and Beru here,” he gestured to the Tatooinians- “Will help take out your transmitters.”

He saw Luke bite his lip, however, at the statement, clearly not comforted by it. “I don’t like climbing ladders,” he said, lowering his head in embarrassment as he said it. He glanced back up though, suddenly, to look at his twin. “And Leila doesn’t like to either. She can’t tell where the rungs are, sometimes.”

Anakin sucked in a breath, and exhaled. “Alright then, Luke. I can carry you.” He looked over at Leia then, and held out his hand, hoping the girl would move closer to him. “And then I can come back up really quickly and get Leia.”

“Leila,” he heard a murmur.

“Sorry?” Anakin asked, turning around to face his daughter.

“My name’s Leila,” she said, this time in a louder, and more commanding voice. “Not Leia.”

The man stiffened. He’d forgotten- his children didn’t have the names, now, that his wife and him had named them at birth. Similar names, to be sure- but not the same.

So much would never be the same.

But Anakin let go of that thought and sighed and smiled back at Leila, apologetically. “I’m sorry, Leila. But is it okay if I carry you?”

He waited with baited breath as the girl chewed at the corners of her mouth and seemed to ponder over the question for a while. However, she eventually gave a short nod, agreeing to his request.

Anakin grinned at her, and his heart stuttered for a beat when he saw a soft smile appear on Leila’s face, the first he had really ever seen since he met her outside Jabba’s, in return. He walked over to Lukka, then, and felt his chest similarly warm as the boy immediately stepped into his open arms and hugged him around the neck. Anakin hoisted him up and started to climb down the ladder, giving a nod to Owen and Beru above him, the woman in question with a hand on Leila’s shoulder as to provide stability and comfort. She nodded at him, as if reminding him to stay committed to the promise he had made at his mother’s grave.

Anakin couldn’t nod back, not with Lukka’s arms around his neck, but he gave her a look back that promised- he would remember.

* * *

Two hours later, Padme and Anakin looked on in horror as Beru stitched up an incision at the small of Lukka’s back, and Owen cleaned a similar wound on Leila’s left shoulder, before she would be stitched up as well.

His children had been so brave. Without hesitation, soon after Anakin had carried them down the ladder, they had laid down on what were essentially just stone tables in the middle of a room with a permacrete floor. Their slightly hurried and labored breathing was the only thing that betrayed their fear as Owen and Beru had each pulled out a pair of macrobinoculars, Beru explaining that the thermal imaging of the binoculars, while, not perfect, usually could point them in the direction of where the transmitter might have been lodged, it being colder than the rest of the body. Anakin watched in interest as the couple, after finding what they must have been looking for on the macrobinoculars, began to pat and squeeze the area as if they could feel the imperceptible bump of the metal devices. And, finally, they had both picked up knife-like instruments, within seconds of each other (and with such a practiced air and ease, Anakin could tell they had done this dozens of times), whipping out antiseptic cloths to clean the areas which they’d have to cut into.

When Beru and Owen first started cutting into the twins’ skin with knife-like instruments, he had felt Padme, who had up until then been pressed close into his side, surveying the scene with wide eyes, turn away and look toward the wall. Anakin turned away too for a second, using his eyes to search Padme’s own and ask her implicitly if she was alright. With a short nod as she waved him back to the surgery, Anakin bobbed his head in reply just as Luke- Lukka- cried out in pain.

_“Anakin,” Beru had called out from the table, “Hand me that japor piece on the stand there.”_

_Pulling away from Padme, Anakin raced to a small metal moveable stand near Beru’s side and snatched the biggest piece of japor that he had ever seen from its contents on top. He held it out to the woman, who then stopped cutting into his son’s skin for a moment to approach Lukka and hold out the japor. “Bite on this, sweetheart. It should help with the pain.”_

_After she stuffed the piece in his mouth, Anakin had started to walk away again, back to Padme, but Beru reached out and pulled him back to the table. “You should stay with him, Anakin. I’m sure he’ll appreciate the comfort his father has to offer him.”_

_And so, Anakin stayed by Lukka’s side, stroking his son’s back in small circles and rubbing his shoulders, as Beru continued to poke around the incision she had cut to remove the piece of metal under his skin that could blow the child apart._

Anakin shivered as he recalled that, while the piece of japor had clearly helped Lukka manage his pain, as did his own rubs and strokes, the boy had still cried out and panted throughout the rest of the surgery- as had Leila, even though Owen never had to stuff a japor piece into his daughter’s mouth as Beru did for Lukka. Therefore, her shouts and cries had been louder, and, Anakin did notice rather bemusedly, even in the horrifying moment that was enfolding, filled with some rather choice Huttese curse words that he had to admire himself. He was also distantly aware of the fact that Padme had approached Leila, like he had just done with Lukka, to provide help to Owen and comfort to their daughter.

Now, though, Owen and Beru had asked the parents to stay back from their children as they finally removed the transmitters and stitched up their wounds. Anakin snuck a glance at the transmitters that the couple had placed on the medical stand nearest Lukka. They were so small, he mused, only a couple of inches long. The rounded grooves in the metal were the only things that hinted it must have been man-made, rather than a natural element. Though it was unnerving to see the transmitters- even more so to see the twins cut into in order to remove them- Anakin couldn’t help but admit that all he felt now was relief.

There was nothing out of his control now, he thought, that could take his children away from him again.

The kids were still and quiet now. They had passed out soon after Beru and Owen had removed their transmitters, within minutes of each other, even though Lukka had had his transmitter taken out before Leila’s. Beru explained to the parents that they should let the twins rest- they were likely in shock, since they didn’t have anything but the natural anesthetic of the japor to use, and though the couple did their best to relieve their pain, and, Beru remarked, Anakin and Padme being there had certainly helped- they just needed some time to heal.

Padme and Anakin had just nodded in response, transfixed to the sight of Owen and Beru stitching up the twin incisions on the children’s backs, rubbing the wounds with antiseptic again, and then placing bacta patches on the length of the cuts. Soon, the man and woman pulled away, their work done, and started to pack up the surgery supplies that they had just used. Anakin moved to help, but Beru held out a palm to stop him.

“You’ve been such a help, Anakin. You and your wife both,” she smiled. “And your children were very brave.”

Anakin bobbed his head numbly, before Beru began talking again. “All they need from you now is for you to be by their side when they wake up. It’ll be nice for them to see a familiar face that can tell them what’s been done and remind them where they are. Then, you can make your way back over to the homestead in the morning.”

“Thank you, Beru, Owen,” Anakin heard Padme say in response, her voice strong, as it usually was, yet also so very quiet. “We can’t thank you enough for this.”

“Owen and I are happy to. We just want to do what’s right,” Beru replied, a kind smile still tugging the corners of her mouth. Her husband had joined her at her side, now, and nodded his head in affirmation, giving a grunt to agree. The woman continued. “If you need anything else, we’ll be at the homestead, and we’ll do whatever we can to help.”

After another chorus of “thank yous” from Padme and Anakin, Beru and Owen finished packing the last of their instruments and climbed up the ladder where they had all entered the underground surgery center.

When they left, Padme immediately sunk to the ground. There were no chairs or anything else to sit on in sight. Anakin joined her, sliding down on the permacrete to sit by her side.

Padme had her head in her hands when Anakin looked back at her and had made himself comfortable on the floor. He was about to ask what was wrong, but Padme started talking before he had a chance to ask. “I’m worried, Ani.”

“It’ll be okay, angel,” he replied, putting an arm around her shoulder and dragging her close, so that she was squeezed into his side in a comforting embrace. “I’m sure if there are any complications, Owen and Beru will be able to help the kids.”

But Padme was shaking her head in disagreement, as if her husband hadn’t even begun to answer her question. “I know that. I’m just…” She chewed at her lip, and Anakin marveled at how much she was mirroring a gesture he had seen Leila do, just hours earlier. “Worried about everything else, I guess.” She sighed, but continued. “Where do we go from here, Ani? You heard all the terrible stories Kitster told us, that the other people we freed told us, about what life is like at Jabba’s.” Anakin opened his mouth to speak, but Padme was wringing her hands nervously now, and she couldn’t seem to stop her nervous train of thought. “And, as you noticed, they’re Force-sensitive. Extremely Force-sensitive. But the Jedi would only reluctantly take them to train- and even then, I don’t think the Temple is what they need, especially right now. So, what do we do?” Her wild eyes turned to face Anakin then. “Have you also noticed that Lukka walks with a limp? His whole left leg seems… mangled,” Padme fretted. “And Leia- Leila- her right eye. It doesn’t focus, and she’s always squinting her eyes to see things.” She paused then, taking her husband’s hands in her own. “Anakin, she might be blind.”

Anakin sighed deeply. If he was being honest, he was just as nervous as his wife about all of these things- maybe even more so than she was. But he had to be strong for her. He had to provide her with a glimmer of hope, with some form of reassurance.

“When Qui-Gon brought me to the Temple… and Obi-Wan became my Master,” Anakin started, certain that the best way to assuage his wife’s fears would be to draw on his own experiences. “It wasn’t easy, at all… at first,” he explained. “In fact, it was… difficult. Really difficult.” He swallowed. He hated talking about his initial days with the Jedi, but he knew he had to, for Padme’s sake. _For his children’s sake_ , his mind added, as Beru’s conversation with him days earlier came to mind. He didn’t want to- couldn’t- delve into the details right now, but perhaps the admission was a good place to start.

_You will need to remember your past,_ he heard her voice echo, eerily sounding like his mom’s voice as well.

“But-“ he continued. “It got easier. Over time. It does get easier.” He sighed, before continuing. “It’ll take a while for them to get adjusted, Padme. It’s hard to slip out of the mindset of a slave. But we’ll get them all the help they need- we will give them the love they need. And we’ll be there for them, every step of the way, okay?”

He was relieved to see the anguish and worry on Padme’s face melt away as he continued to speak. When he was done, he broke into a grin as Padme embraced him in her arms now, snuggling closer to his side. “Thank you, Ani,” his wife whispered, a soft smile on her face. “That made me feel a bit better.”

“Of course, angel,” he replied. Anakin heard Padme yawn then, and chuckled when he turned to face her, feeling her mouth open wide next to his shoulder and then shut. Her eyes blinked sleepily, as if she was struggling to stay awake, and Anakin suddenly remembered that they’d been up for hours, conducting a daring rescue mission and walking for several miles in the arid desert. “Get some rest, Padme. I’ll watch Lukka and Leila.”

He saw Padme furrow her eyebrows a bit and frown, as if she was going to retort and refuse his request, but she seemed too tired to argue as she simply nodded and sighed, moving back from Anakin a bit to readjust herself and then rest her head on his shoulder. Anakin smiled at the sight, and lightly chuckled at the fact that Padme was out in seconds.

For a few minutes, all Anakin did was stare at the sleeping bodies of his children, as well as at the flickering orange flame that Beru had left behind to light the room. However, as he felt himself about to doze off, focusing solely on the flames in the lantern bending back and forth, he heard a small sound from one of the tables and instantly stood up, making sure to quietly lay Padme against the wall, removing her from his shoulder, trying not to wake her up from her sleep.

He saw Leila toss a little, back and forth, and rushed to her side. When he reached the table, she was batting her eyes open and rubbing them, groggily peeking at him from behind her hands.

“Shh, Leila,” Anakin soothed, and though he didn’t quite know what to do, decided to place a hand on her back, being careful not to rub anywhere near the incision on her shoulder or on top of the bacta patches that littered the length of her back. “You’re okay. You’re free. You’ve had your transmitter taken out, and you’re safe.”

The girl squinted at him, frowned, and then muttered something Anakin could barely make out as she laid her head on the table again, as if she was preparing to go back to sleep. “Lukka?”

The man smiled. He didn’t know much about the twins, not yet, but he did know that they loved each other. Every action of theirs confirmed it. They were basically inseparable. “He’s okay too, Leila. He’s sleeping right beside you. You’re both free. You’re both safe.”

All he heard in reply was a soft affirmative grunt. For a moment, Anakin was convinced that Leila had fallen back asleep again. However, just as he was about to turn away, the little girl spoke up again. “Grandmother couldn’t tell me a story about Tena,” she mumbled, obviously still half asleep, her eyes squeezed shut. “Can you tell me one?”

Anakin felt like his heart had plummeted into his chest, it ached so painfully. Not only had Tena been one of his Mom’s favorite cultural heroines, and a frequent subject of all the stories she told him, but he recalled that the only song he’d ever sung to his precious newborn twins had been a song about the prophet. A lump lodged itself in his throat. “I don’t know about that, little one. I think you need your sleep.” He was tempted to leave it at that, but he also knew he couldn’t. So, he resumed. “However, I can sing you a song.”

It took a little while to work past the bulge in his throat, but he eventually found his voice. It echoed throughout the small hideaway, but Anakin kept it just soft enough that it wouldn’t wake up Lukka or Padme. _“Tena lights the fires; the night is coming in…”_

And even through the pain that the memory resurfaced, Anakin smiled, a grin stretched from ear to ear, as he felt Leila quiet beneath his fingers, her breathing leveling off into deep, slow breaths.

It wasn’t long before Anakin himself was asleep, and drifted off into dreamland.

* * *

_“I’m coming to get you!” Anakin shouted, running through the hallways and rooms of 500 Republica._

_Ahead of him, he could hear the pattering of feet and the twins shrieking as they ran into different rooms in the apartment, trying to avoid their father._

_However, in the process of trying to hide, they made the very fatal mistake of running to their room, thinking they could take cover there. Anakin smiled, walking into the room. He pretended like he couldn’t see Luke peeking out of his closet, or the top of Leia’s head poking out from underneath her bed. “Hmm,” he wondered, stroking his chin like Obi-Wan sometimes did, which always made the kids giggle. “I wonder where they could be?”_

_“You’ll never find us Daddy!” he heard Leia shout from beneath the bed, trying not to laugh as she scooted herself more underneath the bed, so as not to be seen._

_Although his son didn’t make a comment like his sister did, Anakin smiled as he heard the boy try to stifle his chuckles and shrieks from inside the closet._

_“Oh, I think I… will!” Anakin announced dramatically as he flung open the closet doors first to reveal Luke crouching in the corner, underneath some of Leia’s dresses. The boy wheezed and laughed as he tried to run away from his dad once again, but Anakin grabbed and held onto him tightly as they approached Leia’s hiding spot under the bed. With a flick of his wrist that was not holding Luke, the man revealed the little girl’s hideaway, greeted by Leia’s screams of delight. However, like Luke, he scooped her up into his arms, hugging his children tight to his chest as he scooted them more deeply into his arms. “You little nerfs,” he exclaimed fondly, messing up the hair on their heads with his hands. He knew Padme would probably yell at him later, for ruining their hairdos, but the twins seemed to love it, squirming in his grasp and laughing at the gesture._

_He failed to notice, though, that Luke was still squiggling in his hold, struggling to break free. Anakin paid for this lack of attention when the boy managed to slip underneath his arm and take off running again. Anakin was so shocked by this sudden turn of events that Leia was able to use that to her advantage as well, also shaking free from her father’s hug and scrambling off to chase her brother down the hall. The man chuckled for a bit at the children’s antics, shaking his head, before running off after them, shouting, “Luke! Leia! Wait up!”_

_However, the halls and rooms of 500 Republica soon melted into the corridors of what Anakin recognized as the Polis Massa medical station. The playful, cheerful feeling that had permeated the family apartment turned into white hot anger in his chest, his head throbbing with a painful headache. When Anakin turned a corner, he bristled at the sight of Gis Sangor sprinting ahead of him, his babies screaming and shrieking in his grasp- but not in the happy way they had moments before. Anakin felt tears stream down his face as he realized he was losing Sangor, his stamina and speed not enough to make up for the tired, aching feeling in his bones, the only reprieve of which in the past few days had been the birth of his children._

_The pale greasy-haired man turned another corner and caught Anakin’s eye for a moment, his own face flushed, green emerald eyes wide and ablaze, before he disappeared down the hall. Anakin sucked in another breath and willed his legs to move faster, as fast as they could go._

_Instead of finding Gis Sangor at the end of the corridor, though, Anakin skidded to a halt and his heart sank._

_Four clone troopers stood in front of him, blocking his way forward. The Jedi immediately swiveled around, determined to run in the other direction and somehow catch up with the twins that way. But, to his dismay, another four clones stood in that direction, plugging his path._

_Anakin growled and moved his lightsaber forward threateningly. He still didn’t really know what had caused the clones, so many of whom had been his brothers, comrades in arms, just days before, to suddenly turn on all of the Jedi in the galaxy. If initial intelligence from Rex and Ahsoka could be believed, it had something to do with the inhibitor chips that Tup and Fives had been involved with, died from and because, at some point. But the reason didn’t matter now. Anakin had no plans to leave his children so soon, and he planned to fight and slice through every single trooper he needed to in order to rescue the twins and be reunited with his family- alive._

_Just as he prepared to deflect blaster fire, though, Anakin saw a figure in a long, dark robe appear from farther down the corridor. When that same person moved closer to the clones, they instantly parted to make a way for them through the middle of their ranks, raising their hands in a salute as they did so._

_Anakin let out a shuddering breath. He couldn’t help it, but his legs started shaking a bit, as the rest of his body clenched. His nerves felt on fire in unrivaled fury, while fear made a shiver race down his spine. There was only one man who could’ve made the troopers react like that, now, and that man had just tempted him with the Dark side, Anakin only escaping from his grasp a day or two earlier._

_“So, we meet again, Anakin. I was wondering when I’d see you next,” the silky, scratchy voice of Chancellor- now Emperor- Palpatine echoed through the hall. “I thought you would know by now that you cannot escape me.” A sinister smile tugged at the Sith’s lips. I think we have a lot of things to discuss.”_

Anakin sat up then, heaving, sweat clinging to his forehead and sliding off the palms of his hands. Standing up, he immediately searched around the room, fully expecting Palpatine to pop out of the shadows. However, when his scan proved that there was still no one in the surgery center but Padme, himself, and the twins, Anakin sunk down to the ground, wiping the sweat off his brow.

He just sat there, for a second, trying to bring himself back to reality. He even thought about closing his eyes and meditating for a moment, but his heart was still racing a little too fast for that. Eventually, though, he was able to calm his heartbeat by looking over at his children.

Luke and Leia- Lukka and Leila, Anakin caught himself- were still fast asleep. The only sign of life that appeared from them was their backs gently rising and falling with each breath they took, as well as the occasional snore or sleepy mumble. The man couldn’t help but smile, heart swelling with pride and thankfulness, as he realized the gravity of the fact that his babies, the ones he’d missed so much and longed for for so long, were finally with him. He had Padme and them- they finally, at last, had their whole family together. Again, he couldn’t help the beaming grin that spread across his features.

The feeling lasted only a moment, though, before the nightmare he’d previously had clouded his mind. That nagging feeling, that something could still go terribly wrong, tugged at his brain and wouldn’t go away. Shaking his head, Anakin tried to refocus on what had given him peace and comfort just minutes earlier: the sight of the twins, serenely sleeping.

He couldn’t prevent himself, though, from his gaze slipping. First, to the orange flame in the lantern that still flickered and illuminated the room in light, though Anakin had to guess that it would be morning soon. And then, to the permacrete floor, which, despite being underground, was still covered with sand.

Anakin shuddered at the sudden thought that crossed his mind, of being buried beneath the sand like this, several feet below the dunes.

If there was one thing he never wanted, it was to be trapped under the sand, forgotten in it, pinned down and never able to escape his gritty grave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well hiya. it's been a while. sorry, my life just went off the rails. as life does.
> 
> this is just a filler chapter, tbh, but hopefully a better look at how Anakin and Padme are relating to the kids, and the kids to them. plus, Beru, Owen, and Kitster are just badass and we love them. lol, does anyone else view Anakin as the dad who's secretly proud of how well their kids curse? that's definitely who I envision him as
> 
> also hinting here at how Anakin's confrontation with Palpatine and the kidnapping of the twins has shaped (and scarred him) to be the person he is today. that's a fun perspective to explore, and something I honestly didn't think would really fit into this fic at first, but let's just say it will matter. a lot. (no, not in a "somehow Palpatine is back" way that TROS pulled out of its butt lmao)
> 
> I actually pre-wrote this chapter a week ago but was just able to edit it and post it now with everything else going on in life. the 7th chapter as well is about 2/3 written, but it's by far the longest chapter of this part of the fic- I actually think it might be the longest chapter of this whole fic, except for maybe some of the ending chapters- so I'm working on finishing that within the usual two-week update timeframe, but we'll see. it might be a bit longer than that. something for y'all to look forward to, hopefully!
> 
> BTW, I won't be mentioning politics as much in these end notes anymore. at the time, with the majority of BLM protests going on and everything else, I felt I needed to post them, to remind people to stay engaged with what was happening and help out how they could. plus, this fic wasn't created in a vacuum- it is heavily influenced by what I believe in terms of abolition and transformative justice. so that was another reason I included all that. while I hope y'all still make an effort to stay meaningfully connected in your communities, I'll leave those political statements largely out from now on, in order to hopefully not trivialize them or cause meaningless drama. not that my convictions aren't any stronger, of course. but I hope that makes sense.
> 
> well, on that note, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always, please review, favorite, bookmark, and subscribe! all of that motivates me to write, and I love hearing from y'all. let's just say I've taken some input from the comments into how this fic continues! if there's anything you'd like to see, the next couple of chapters are less planned out (more just having to do with the Skywalker gang getting used to life together), so again lmk if there's any topic in particular you'd like me to explore. I can't promise it'll be in there- it's my fic after all and I get to choose the chapter content- but I definitely value your input, dear reader.
> 
> have a wonderful rest of your week, and spread the love around. hopefully, I'll be seeing you soon.


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